ALL STARS: THE GREAT BATTLE OF THE LIGHT
by Escarlata
Summary: It all started with a Festival. The Pretty Cures know precious little about each other team but they all must come together as a new battle looms near. They can't choice fight or flight, their enemy already decided for them. Yuri  girlxgirl  Warning.
1. Chapter 1

**ALL STARS: THE GREAT BATTLE OF THE LIGHT  
><strong> 

**Pretty Cure belongs to Toei Animation.  
>The plot is mine.<br>English version thanks to ****dan heron****. id: 482555**

**Part 1:****  
><strong>**_L'Ecole des Cinq Lumieres's Festival_**

Tomorrow was the big day. After careful planning, organizational headaches, sleepless nights making sure the inventory was ready and even preventing more than a few fights among the School Councils, everything was finally ready for the first "Great Interscholastic Festival of L'Ecole des Cinq Lumieres".

It would be one big event inviting seven high-schools, eight counting the hosts. Among the main events stood out the Art Clubs exposition, Science Project Contest, Football, Basketball and Softball Tournaments, four plays presented by the attending schools -a joined effort of groups of two schools per play-, open Concert by the Music Clubs, and closing with a bang, a live presentation by Urara Kusagano, idol from the middle school section of L'Ecole des Cinq Lumieres.

It would be two activity packed days.

It went without saying there would be a food court. They already knew Otaka-san wouldn't be able to keep up with the demand.

Nothing was out of place, everything had been planned before hand. Everything would go according to the plan.

"Good job," Natsu said, bringing drinks for six tired students and one exhausted teacher.

"Will you come to the festival?" Koji asked him after taking a sip of juice.

"Of course I will, silly, I would go even if you didn't ask me to," the guy replied with a happy demeanor.

"I'm an invited actress for the play Komachi-san wrote," Urara said in excitement. "I thought I wouldn't be able to help since I'm still in middle school but I was glad to find they still invited me to be part of the cast."

"We're in middle school too and still managed to help," Nozomi said in a tired but happy air. "We couldn't let Karen-san and Komachi-san on their own."

"Not to mention the soccer team asked me to give them a hand," Rin murmured, even more tired than the rest of her friends thanks to the intense training for the tournament.

"While we will have to take care of our events, you Nozomi-san and Kurumi will be able to fully enjoy the festival, so have fun," Karen smiled, "After the games and the rehearsals, Urara and Rin will be able to join you two."

"What about Shiro?" Natsu inquired, noticing the young messenger's absence.

"He's helping Otaka-san with tomorrow's planning," Urara replied. "They are going to need plenty of food, so she has him helping in the kitchen. Tomorrow he is getting a break so he can enjoy the festival too."

As former president of the School Council of the middle school section of L'Ecole des Cinq Lumieres, Karen was almost expected to help once again in the high-school's council. And she did. She didn't need anybody to ask her to. She could aspire for presidency until her third year, meanwhile she would help as an assistant, and she really knew her job. Not having to make the big decisions was a welcomed break for Karen, and Komach was still at her side; the green haired girl had decided to follow her old friend to the Council. Komachi, as it was to be expected, once again became a volunteer in the library; she simply loved books.

Nozomi, Rin and Kurumi were now in their third year and Koji still remained their teacher, while Urara had moved on to her second year; Urara also managed to keep up with her artistic career and keep up with her studies. She was the pride of the girls without a doubt. While Nozomi finally managed passable grades, much to Koji's relief, Rin was still going all out at sports, although she was very interested on learning about flowers and numbers so she could take care of the family business one day. Kurumi was doing just fine in the school, taking care of things in the Cure Rose Garden and helping Coco and Nuts. Her bickering with Nozomi for chocolate or any silly thing hadn't stopped at all, though.

They spent the rest of the afternoon resting until it was time to go back home.

The next day everybody arrived early to finish with the small details, get everything ready and lay out the food on its respective stands. Around nine o'clock several buses started to arrive, each bringing the visiting school's students, their equipment and several others things they would need for their activities and presentations. Rooming was no problem, they had arranged several classrooms to allow sleeping room, and there were plenty camping areas outdoors for anybody who felt like sleeping under the stars.

Ever helpful, the middle school girls showed up to help with the final details before enjoying the day's events, like the Art expo. There would be a special award for the piece with the most positive reviews; these reviews were counted on opinion cards at the exit of the exposition, letting the visitors give their opinions about the exposition and the piece of their liking. To make things fair, every artist worked under a pseudonym and no information was given about the schools they came from.

A certain oil painting by one "Silver Wing" was very positively received.

After the opening ceremony the first round of all the games started simultaneously. That day there would be two consecutive games with a two hours break for the winning teams, and the next day would be the finals of the tournaments.

"Hurry, Rin-chan's game is about to start!" Nozomi hurried the others. "I want to be in the front rows!"

"It's your fault! You wanted to eat something first and now we're late!" Kurumi complained at the incessant pulling while Urara was having a great time, watching around the fields at the other teams getting ready to play.

Once they made it to the field their friend was going to play they found the whole place packed. Even so, Rin managed to spot them among the crowds and waved at them with both arms and a wide smile. The trio decided to remain where they were, which allowed them to keep an eye on the game going on in the field across them. It wasn't such a bad place, but it would make cheering her friend from their place a bit more difficult.

"Rin-san is going to win, girls, you shouldn't worry about that," said a familiar voice behind them.

"Masuko-san!"

"Instead, you should check our girls's next rivals," she continued, looking at the other game through her camera's lenses. "I heard there are plenty of good teams and..." she trailed off as she caught sight of something . "It's her!"

Mika's sudden reaction caught the attention of Nozomi, Urara and Kurumi.

"Who are you talking about, Masuko-san?" asked Nozomi in curiosity, looking around but not knowing what to look for.

"There, my dear Nozomi!" she wrapped an arm around Nozomi's neck and signaled with her camera at a girl with short, light brown -almost blond- hair, boyish air, and a slim and slightly tall built. She was dressed in a uniform of light colors and was finishing the warming up with the rest of the team. "My contacts didn't lie, Verone high-school brought their secret weapon!"

"That girl?" Kurumi didn't seem impressed despite the other girl's good look.

"She's handsome," Urara commented, "She looks very fit too."

"Ah my dears, you have no idea what you're saying!" the photographer was still excited. "I'm talking about the Ace of the sports in Verone high-school. Officially she plays in the Lacrosse team but she gives a hand in the other clubs whenever they ask her for it and is always a central element of their victories. I present you, fourth grade student of Verone high-school, Nagisa Musumi!"

Nozomi and friends weren't exactly thrilled.

The whistles marked the beginning of the games and Rin was quick to do her thing, helping her team to quickly dominate the game. In a matter of ten minutes, their team was already ahead by two goals and ten minutes later Rin switched out. It was agreed to keep their key players fresh for the next game, which only lasted fifty minutes anyway.

Verone and Cinq Lumieres easily made it to the next round.

Once the game was over Nozomi and the other girls went to congratulate Rin for the good game and take her to eat a snack before the next game. The redhead needed to recharge her energies and nothing better for that than something to eat. Afterwards they visited the art exposition where Natsu and Koji were checking the pieces with singular interest.

"Rin won the first round!" Nozomi happily announced to the guys, one arm holding her best friend around her neck.

"Oh, come on, it was just the first game. Wait until we make it to the finals," Rin complained with a blush and a grin.

"Congratulations! We'll be there for the next game, Karen and Komachi will be joining us too. We'll cheer for you," Koji said happily, but his attention was still fixed on the painting in front of him, the same painting Natsu couldn't stop looking at.

The girls noticed and looked too at the painting. It was a large oil painting, vibrant and full of life, the scene of an immense tree floating over a green landscape. It was a breathtaking piece, that almost managed to overshadow the rest of the exposition. The piece was titled "Our Home", painted by "Silver Wing".

"It's such a familiar place," Kurumi murmured, her eyes drawn in by the painting. "It looks just like..."

"The Land of Fountains," Natsu finished.

By the way they were talking the girls guessed it was another land or magical realm they knew of.

"We have some friends there, but I didn't think somebody could really capture the essence of that realm in a painting," Koji murmured. "The person who painted this surely is..."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she is," Natsu replied in a whisper. "They have their own warriors too."

Nozomi, Rin and Urara were pretty lost in the cryptic conversation but Kurumi didn't elaborate, still captive by the painting, genuine emotions filling her eyes. With no information provided by the exposition it was impossible to know who had drawn the painting that had bewitched their friends. Karen and Komachi would probably know, but they were busy at the moment, keeping up with Council's matters.

The flash of a familiar camera caught their attention; Mika Masuka was once again on top of everything. She wanted to make sure she had everything ready for the Festival's special edition of the School's newspaper.

"I see you're having fun," she hummed, taking a photo of the painting. "I don't want to spoil things for you, but it seems "Our Home" will take the exposition's special award by a wide margin. Oh yeah, the Science Projects contest just started, you should go now. I heard the Queen of Knowledge will be there too, and she will probably steamroll through the opposition. It'll be fun to watch her," she said easily. "Kokoda-sensei, they are waiting you to judge, remember? You should be there already."

"Ah, that's right!" Koji yelped and ran in direction of the school's theater where the Science clubs were holding their events.

With nothing more to do, and not feeling like watching the science projects, the girls went to the camping area where Rin could rest for her next game. Some others sport clubs were already there resting and enjoying a small lunch too. Not far from where the girls crashed they could see a Softball team in orange uniforms prepping up for their next game; by the few stray comments they could hear, the home team had been beaten. Not very good news, but the other girls' happiness was contagious with.

"We're going to win our next game, I'm on top shape! I'll give it my all!" shouted an overly excited voice. "I won't let you down for letting me in the opening team, I promise!"

"Calm down, Hyuuga, we still have another hour before the next game," said one of the upperclassmen. "Finish your lunch and rest a little."

"Captain, can I go look for Mai?" asked Saki in a polite tone. "I haven't gotten to talk with her since we got off the bus, and... well, I'm sure she's with the Art club and..."

"And you're still surprised everybody in the school says you and Mishou seem to be in love, Saki?" asked the captain in a mischievous tone, making the rest of the team laugh and Saki to blush. "Okay, you can go, just come back in time for the warmups. I can't deny your request when you always come back full of energy after talking with her. Go, and don't be late."

"Yes, thanks!"

In her hurry Saki rushed without looking where she was going and ended up tripping and falling over Nozomi and Kurumi. Rin managed to jump back and pull Urara with her.

"It hurts..." the three downed girls moaned.

The softball team could only sigh in resignation. Saki could be so clumsy at the worst times.

"I'm so sorry!" exclaimed Saki as soon as she stood up. "I wasn't looking where I was going, I'm very sorry! Are you hurt?"

"We'll survive, don't worry," Nozomi replied with a happy smile.

"Just be careful next time, or you won't make it to your game," Kurumi complained and noticed the other girl dropped something. Saki noticed too and was about to pick it up when Kurumi beat her to it. "Here."

"Thanks!" she took the item back and bowed in thanks and good bye before running off again.

"What a nice girl," Nozomi said." I hope she does well in the tournament."

Kurumi remained quiet and pensive. That accessory, she noticed right away it had a very familiar feel to it, she was almost sure it was a spirit of the Land of Fountains. The accessory reacted to Kurumi's touch too. That girl had to be one of the two Pretty Cure that protected that zone, the "Brilliant Golden Flower" Cure Bloom and "The Shining Silver Wing" Cure Egret. She quickly put things together and realized that Hyuuga girl was Cure Bloom, while that friend she was talking about, Mai Mishou, was Cure Egret, the artist behind "Our Home". Only a Pretty Cure could having known so intimately so many details of the Land of Fountains to be able to capture it all on canvas.

Kurumi knew about these warriors, very versatile with incredible skills that could only be unleashed to their full potential if they were together and in harmony. She would talk about it with Coco, Nuts and the girls once they had a chance to get together on the afternoon. She didn't want to repeat herself needlessly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Koji was on the front row with the rest of the judges evaluating the works and presentations. If he had to be sincere he wasn't all that impressed by the projects so far, and if he had to be completely honest, he was more than a bit bored and was sure he wasn't the only one who wanted the event to be over and done soon. It was the turn for the fifth presentation by the Science Club of Verone high-school.

The experiment looked good so far, he had to admit it. The introduction was made by the president of the club before conceding the floor to the mind behind the project, a girl with long and dark, almost black, hair and white skin. When the girl started her presentation she captured everybody's attention in a quick minute. She explained everything in a clear, simple and powerful way that made everything a very enjoyable experience.

The young teacher lamented the fact the girls weren't there to watch the presentation. Even they would have understood perfectly the theory behind the seemingly simple project named "The trash and us." By the end of the event everybody knew who was going to win. Verone took the first and only prize of the contest, and it wasn't for nothing; it was a very good presentation and well worked project on solid foundations.

After announcing the winner, give nthe prize and mark the closure of the event the theater started to empty. Koji picked up his things, ready to go to Rin's game as he had promised he would when he noticed the girl with the dark hair coming his way. He remained quiet when noticed the girl walked past him to reunite with somebody else.

"Good job, Honoka!" called out another girl, picking her up in a brief hug, and then taking her hands. "at least Akane-san's menu didn't show up this time!" she said with a giggle that made her friend blush in embarrassment.

"Muh, Nagisa!"

"Kidding, just kidding!"

Koji watched them out of the corner of his eye. They had a very curious aura that drew his attention, a spark, a very curious and familiar energy. Such a strong presence... He felt somebody standing to his side, Natsu, and he could see he felt too something on the girls. They exchanged a brief glance and nodded. In that moment somebody ran past them with a camera on hand.

"Nagisa Misumi and Honoka Yukishiro, the Stars of Verone!" Mika Masuko exclaimed with obvious excitement. "Can I take some pictures of you and maybe a little interview for the school's newspaper?" she asked with a wide smile. "I promise to make it brief, I know Misumi-senpai has a game in a moment."

The pair exchanged a glance and nodded at the reporter.

"Thank you very much!" Mika snapped a quick photo. "First of all, congratulations for winning the contest, Yukishiro-senpai."

"Thank you," the girl replied with a small and happy smile.

"And congratulations for winning your first game, Misumi-senpai. I hope everything goes well for the next one. A final between our schools would be a great honor."

"Same here," Nagisa replied with a handsome and happy smile.

Mika asked a few simple things like their impressions about the overall school event, what activities were they looking for, what would they do once their participation was over and if they wanted to give a message to the readers.

"My part is over, now it's my turn to cheer on Nagisa in the next game and tomorrow if she makes it to the finals. No opponent should be taken lightly," Honoka said with the same serene voice she made her presentation.

"I'll give everything I have on the game, that's my way to show respect to our opponents. I'll do anything I can do to have a good time playing and winning," was Nagisa's answer, never letting her smile drop nor letting Honoka's hand go.

"And your message for our readers?"

"Hope and Despair always go hand in hand, there will always be good and bad moments..." Nagisa began with a more respectful tone, as if quoting somebody else.

"... But you must always keep up the faith, because tomorrow will be a good day," finished Honoka with the same solemn tone.

Mika took a few moments replying the phrase in her mind and then smiled.

"Thank you very much for the interview, I promise you'll get a copy of the paper on Verone in the next few days," she turned off the recorder in her hands and bowed respectfully to the other girls. "Thank you very much, excuse me."

The reporter quickly ran off and Nagisa and Honoka walked after her, leaving the theater at a brisk pace; the game was about to start and Nagisa had to get back to the team. Due to the rush the girls left in, Koji and Natsu had no time to approach them and get a better feel of the energy radiating out of the girls. Oh well, they would have more than enough time to take a look later on, they were going to the games anyway.

On the fields the second round was about to begin. This time Nozomi and company managed to find a good place to cheer on Rin. The whistles marked the beginning of the games and soon shouts, applauses and the constant going and coming of the ball filled the air. Not far, the din of the Softball games and the constant sound of balls being hit could be heard from the neighbor fields. The basketball games were more discrete, held in the gymnasium.

Twenty minutes into the game the local team was ahead by three goals and the other team just didn't seem able to pull through. On the next field, Nagisa Musumi was backing up her claims to Mika, playing with everything she had to show her respect to the rival team. The three goals she scored were proof of that.

Girls from Verone watching that game were commenting that the display of athletic prowess was nothing more than Nagisa Musumi showing off to impress Honoka Yukishiro, who was watching the game this time.

During halftime break Nozomi apologized to Rin for not being able to watch the rest of her game.

"There's somebody I want to watch playing, she looked like a very interesting person and I want to met her again," she said with a smile and that soft and excited expression that Rin couldn't deny anything to.

"Okay, the game that counts is tomorrow's, that one I want you here the whole fifty minutes, understood Nozomi?" Rin replied with a huge smile.

"Understood, Rin-chan!" she turned to her friends. "I'll go watch Hyuuga-san's game."

"The one that tripped on you?" asked Shiro, who was finally enjoying his break from the cafeteria work. Nozomi nodded in affirmative.

"I'm coming too," Kurumi said immediately, giving a furtive glance at Koji and Natsu and she nodded. They understood the hidden message in her eyes. "Shall we, Koji-sama, Natsu-sama?"

"Let's go, seems fun. We have to see how good is the team that managed to beat ours," Koji laughed and dragged his friend away.

"I can walk on my own, okay?" Natsu complained with his usual serious expression. "Shiro, wouldn't you want to come with us too?"

Natsu's serious look, even more so than usual, put Shiro in alert. The boy nodded and went with them.

On the softball fields, all the girls were making quite a commotion for the big game. Saki Hyuga took out another bater thanks to her strong arm and powerful throws, taking out another runner from bases.

"Hyuga-san, go for it!" Nozomi shouted with everything she had, catching Saki's attention.

Saki looked over the crowd and recognized the girl, she waved with her gloved hand in greeting and then immediately went back to the game.

While Nozomi was enjoying the game, Kurumi explained what happened when Saki Hyuuga crashed on them and Kurumi could touch her accessory. She felt it contained one of the Spirits from the Land of Fountains, so that girl and her artist friend, who was near to the team's benches cheering on Saki, probably were Pretty Cures, guardians of that realm.

"Nozomi-san, I see you have a good eye!" exclaimed Masuko who showed up out of seemingly thin air.

"Whoa...! Masuko-san!"

"Good news, it seems our basketball team made it to tomorrow's finals," she snapped a photo of the game, "The soccer's finals are still up in the air, but this game has the third grade Ace from Yuunagi's middle-school."

"Is she from middle-school?"

"That's right! They borrowed her for the high-school section of the same school, or rather, she asked to help the team, I'll have to double check. It seems the high-school teams were a bit short on people for their clubs so they borrowed a few girls from the middle-school section."

The game finished with Yuunagi's victory and their advance to the finals. On the soccer side, the finals would be between L'Ecole des Cinq Lumieres and Verone. In basketball, the home team made it to the finals but their opposition looked like a tough nut to crack.

The best was coming for the next day, Urara would perform in one of the two plays and there would be the closing concert.

The last of sunlight disappeared over the horizon but there were still several activities going on, like dinner on the food stands and a bonfire on the courtyard. Nozomi and her friends finally found out thanks to Koji that Saki Hyuga and her artist friend Mai Mishou were Pretty Cures, so it would be a good idea to take a moment to met them before the end of the festival.

"Let's met them, it'll be fun!" Nozomi exclaimed with clear emotion, getting nods of agreement from everybody else. "It's decided!"


	2. Chapter 2

**ALL STARS: THE GREAT BATTLE OF THE LIGHT  
><strong> 

**Pretty Cure belongs to Toei Animation.  
>The plot is mine.<br>English version thanks to ****dan heron****, id: 482555**

**Part 2:****  
><strong>**_Black Thunder, White Thunder_**

The sun was barely peeking out over the horizon when the school burst into activity once again.

That morning found everybody busy.

Rin was doing a quick practice with the team to polish last minute new plays; Verone was a strong opponent and L'Ecole des Cinq Lumieres' team had to make a few adjustments to their old play style if they wanted to match up to their rivals.

Urara was in quick rehearsal inside the school's building while Komachi, screen writer of the play, was in charge of supervising the last rehearsal and making adjustments whenever was needed. Nozomi was with Komachi and Urara helping set up whatever props the stage would need; she didn't want to feel left out when all of her friends were already doing everything they could do.

Karen was going to and fro with matters of the Council and distributing the day's schedule around the school with Koji's help. Shiro was still working hard in the Cafeteria. Natsu and Kurumi -on their own private project- dedicated themselves to following the girls they knew were a team of Pretty Cures.

Everybody was swamped with work but they still managed to be there for Rin's big moment.

At ten o'clock the finals started.

While the home basketball team rose to victory, in Softball Yuunagi was the champion thanks to a dramatic play by Saki Hyuga. But the only game Nozomi and company had eyes for was the soccer finals.

The teams made the traditional greeting and soon the game was afoot. Rin was nervous, pretty nervous in fact, Nozomi telling her how good Verone wasn't exactly helping, no matter how much the redhead claimed she liked the challenge. The ball made its way to Rin and she decided for an all out attack, knowing the moral boost of an early lead could have on both teams.

She turned around, ready to sprint through the unsuspecting players when a tall figure blocked her path. She raised her eyes quickly and saw Nagisa Misumi closing her path and giving her a confident and serene smile. Rin didn't like that smile. She tried to faint her to escape with the ball, but the taller girl was already there, blocking in every direction, almost as if she were two steps ahead of Rin.

"Natsuki-san, right?" Nagisa asked with a confident look and a smile that touched in the arrogant side –at least in the redhead's eyes-. "I heard about you, you're a great player, even if you're still in middle-school."

"Misumi-senpai, I see you're in charge of dealing with me!" the girl said after another futile effort to get rid of the close mark.

"You're wrong, Natsuki-san!" that smile grew just a _bit_ wider. "I came for the ball!"

Despite being taller than Rin, Nagisa went low, twisted her body like she used to do while playing Lacrosse, and managed to take the ball from between the redhead's feet.

"Damn!" Rin shouted, running after Nagisa.

"Mark her as we practiced!" The captain of the local team shouted and the defense moved to intercept Nagisa.

The girl managed to draw in the defense line, but instead of continuing with her push she kicked up the ball and with a great jump and headbutt, sent a pass to another player of Verone that had been running on the other side of the field. The next kick was a goal for Verone, causing a roar from their students.

Rin was rooted on her spot in shock, her friends were just as surprised.

"That was just pure luck, next time Rin-chan is going to leave that girl eating her dust!" Nozomi exclaimed with a little disgust in her tone.

The comment provoked an elegant giggle next to the group.

"Natsuki-san is an excellent player. Very exact movements, fast and with great potential for versatility too," said a black haired girl, with a lab coat over her uniform. "But if she remains as nervous as she is there will be little she can do; she is only playing at sixty percent of her capacity, and unless she calms down and thinks things through, she will remain behind even of her own teammates."

"Yukishiro-san?" the teacher recognized her immediately, but he had been expecting her to be closer to Verone's students.

"Rin-chan is nervous?" Nozomi asked in confusion.

"I suggest you try and calm her down before something happens that makes her feel worse than what she's already feeling right now."

Nozomi took the advice to heart and took Karen and Komachi by their hands; standing up she took a deep breath.

"Everybody together, you too girls!" she looked at Urara and Kurumi. "Go! Rin-chan! Rin-chan! Gives us a goal!"

Caught on Nozomi's excitement the other girls shouted in chorus with her, catching many people's attention, but especially Rin's. Seeing her friends making a fool of themselves the redhead couldn't help but sighing and smile, shaking her head a little. Hearing her friends cheering for her made her nerves turn into courage. She wouldn't let Nagisa Musumi humiliate her again! She was going to show her what she was made of!

The game continued, girls cheering and Rin playing in such manner that put her earlier showing to shame.

"Why help your opponents to play better?" Natsu asked Honoka with his usual serious demeanor.

The girl was looking at the game, her analytic eyes following Nagisa and Rin and the game around the two. Keeping her attention on the game, not even looking at Natsu, she smiled confidently.

"A strong opponent makes the fight worth fighting. This is a game between two teams and if one of them doesn't give their one hundred percent is like insulting the other. Natsuki-san is a key element for her team, and if that pillar crumbles down the rest of the team will soon follow," she replied calmly. "Besides, Nagisa will win no matter what..."

That innocent and so matter-of-factly delivered remark caused a little unease on the group.

"Rin-chan will win, she and the team will win the game!" Kurumi exclaimed hotly.

"In three passes Nagisa is going to score another goal," she said, eyes still locked on her friend. "The defense of your team is confused and Natsuki-san is a forward, not defense."

A long pass, a short overhead pass and the ball landed right in front of Nagisa; she dashed past Rin and the defense and put the ball on the back of other team's goal.

"If it is Nagisa, she will never lose," Honoka said with a placid smile.

By halftime Verone was ahead by three goals with a single goal scored by Rin for Cinq Lumieres. Rin was exhausted and the rest of the team's mood was dashed to the ground.

"Your team has the skill but not the spirit. If you want to make this more entertaining they need to feel capable of winning," Honoka said standing up and then she bowed at the group. "Winning or losing doesn't matter as long as one gives everything they have. If you excuse me." She made her way towards the rest of Verone's students.

"Did she come just looking for a fight?" Kurumi said with a sour expression.

"Regardless if she did, she was right," said Karen between resigned and upset. "If Rin doesn't calm down, she and the rest of the team won't be able to pull through and play as they usually do."

"Then we gotta remind them!" said Nozomi and then ran through the field, heading towards where Rin was resting.

It goes without saying that wasn't exactly allowed.

"Nozomi?" the redhead said in panic. "You can't be here! They are going to punish you!"

"It doesn't matter!" she said hugging her friend tightly. "You can win, you have to give everything you have, I know you can! Verone is a good team but you guys are way better!"

The referee finally showed up for Nozomi. "Yumehara! Get out of the field, the second half is about to begin."

"You can do it, we're counting on you, Rin-chan!"

The pinkette ran back to her friends, leaving a speechless Rin behind; she still couldn't get used to the crazy lengths Nozomi was ready to go for her. She smiled, now more relieved, looking at her upperclassmen she took a deep breath.

"We're the best and we're going to prove it!"

"That's the spirit, Natsuki! The captain shouted. "Okay, listen, we are going to keep on with the new tactics, we can't let them distract us. It's only a two goals difference and we can score more than three. Let's go!"

"Yes!"

The whistle marked the start of the second half and the local team looked revitalized, playing better all around. Now it looked like an even match unlike the first half, when Verone had the undisputed lead over the home team.

In only ten minutes both teams were tied with three goals.

"The redhead is your friend, isn't she?" asked an excited voice.

Nozomi turned along with her friends and saw Saki Hyuga watching the game. Along with her was a thin girl with blue and long hair who obviously wasn't member of the softball team.

"Hyuga-san!" exclaimed Nozomi brightly.

"You cheered for me yesterday, now it's my turn to return the favor, isn't that right Mai?"

"It's just fair," smiled the other girl. "Natsuki-san is your friend, isn't she?"

"Yep, Rin-chan!"

While they talked with Nozomi, the rest of the group noted with interest the accessories the other two girls carried around their necks. They could feel a faint energy that resonated to the presence of Koji, Natsu and Kurumi.

"Misumi-san is incredible, but Rin-san is a great player too," Saki said.

"It's hard to tell who is going to win at this point," Mai commented, taking out her sketchbook and drew a few quick sketches of the players.

Two minutes before the end the game was tied five to five. The next goal would decide the winner of the tournament.

"You're a strong player, I love that!" Nagisa panted as she covered Rin.

"And you, you are incredible, Misumi-senpai! I'm having a blast playing against you!" Rin replied with a wide smile.

"I was hoping you'd have figured it from the beginning, just playing around isn't fun, the challenge is! As long as you give everything you got the end doesn't matter!"

A long pass sent the ball next to the two girls.

"I promise we will face up again, Natsuki-san!" Nagisa shouted as both girls tried to get the ball. "I hope you'll fight with the same spirit you're showing me now!"

Nagisa jumped high taking advantage of every inch she had over Rin, very thankful of the growth spur she had gone through this last year. She received the ball with her chest and she flew off like a bullet. This time Rin didn't let her escape, trying her hardest to catch up with the blond. Nagisa Musumi's speed bordered on the absurd!

"Not again!" Rin roared and threw herself in a last ditch effort to stop Nagisa. She slid low, trying to take the ball from Nagisa but the other girl reacted just in time, kicking the ball up and jumping over Rin's move, kicking the ball after the goal. Cinq Lumieres' team breathed in relief watching the ball veering away from the goal until Verone's captain intercepted the ball and kicked the ball to score the victory's goal.

The sound of a whistle confirmed the goal, finishing the game.

While Verone's team celebrated, hugging and cheering, Nagisa walked towards Rin and offered her hand.

"You'll make a terrific player when you make it to high-school, I'm sure of it," she smiled.

"Misumi-senpai..." Rin was still sore by the defeat, but there was something in Nagisa's smile that warmed up Rin's chest and finally made her accept her upperclassmen's hand and let herself be pulled back up. "It was a pleasure playing against you."

"We'll play again, I promise," she said. With a friendly pat on the back Nagisa made her way to Honoka Yukishiro, who greeted her with a smile.

Rin made her way to her friends and they received her with applauses and hugs. It had been a great game and that was a feat on itself. Among friendly banter, angry muttering and the award ceremony nobody noticed when Saki Hyuga and Mai Mishou left the area.

The sport segment of the festival reached an end and now it was turn of the theater plays, music and finally the event everybody had been waiting for: Urara Kusagano's concert. As it was to be expected it was a total success. The concert lasted another hour and after that there was a huge bonfire on the main courtyard to mark the end of the festival with a party.

Nozomi and her friends went looking for Saki Hyuga and Mai Mishou before they left, it would be hard to come by another chance like this.

Twilight started to cover the city, the music blasted on the background and food was laid all around. The festive spirit made looking for two girls among the sea of many colored uniforms a bit more difficult than originally intended. They found some students from Yuunagi and asked for the pair, but the newcomers' unfamiliarity with the area prevented the girls from getting a concrete answer from the visitors.

"I think we will have to call of the search, I can feel a dark energy very near here," Koji suddenly whispered. "It's outside the school but it's approaching. We have to check on that or the students may be in danger."

"We'll finish with that and then we can get back to looking for those girls. Alright, let's go!" Nozomi said and the group looked for a place to transform.

They reached the limits of the school, where the dark energy felt the strongest. Koji, Natsu and Shiro took their original forms as Coco, Nuts and Syrup while Milky Rose carried them on her arms and shoulders.

Soon a huge creature of pure Darkness could be seen looming over a small forest, away from the inhabited areas. The creature soon noticed the warriors and with a roar of "_Zakenna!"_ fired beams of dark energy in their direction.

The girls opened with attacks of Dream, Aqua and Rouge. Rose fell back to keep the fairies safe, Mint ready to intercept any stray attack that could endanger the populated area or the school and Lemonade circled around the monster, finally capturing it with her chain of light.

It was a piece cake.

"It's too easy-nuts," the prince murmured.

"I'm having a bad feeling too-coco."

The dark creature had focused on attacking the girls, almost as if it had been waiting for them but then didn't even try to leave the area or direct its attacks to any other target. Despite the feeling of unease the monster was finished by the girls, breaking into a rain of black stars that merged into the surrounding shadows.

"That was too easy," Aqua murmured, furtively looking around.

"We'll investigate later why and who unleashed that dark being-coco," said the little creature in its high-pitched voice. "We have to go back to school and look for those girls before they leave-coco."

The group agreed and was about to get back to the school when the sound of applause made them stop on their tracks. Sitting over tall branches were two figures, the shadows seemingly pulling back to reveal at two girls in very peculiar outfits. One was dressed in black with pink highlights, while the other wore a white uniform with blue highlights.

It was obvious they were Pretty Cure.

"Good fight, you are very prepared to fulfill your duty as warriors," said the girl in white.

"I bet that Zakenna didn't even make you break a sweat. You'd prefer a more intense fight, won't ya?" said the girl in black with a smile that Rouge found very familiar.

"Black, don't forget your manners! We should introduce ourselves and know their names, don't you think so?" her partner giggled.

The playful banter, the confident and almost arrogant attitude, and the fact their transformations did little to conceal their looks made it easy to guess the two warriors' identity.

"Who are you?" Dream demanded, taking a defensive stance, still ready from the previous fight.

"Emissary of Light, I'm Cure Black!" the girl in black introduced herself.

"Emissary of Light, I'm Cure White!" the girl in white said and both jumped down, landing at a safe and clear distance away from the other group.

"You're the guardians of the Garden of Light-coco!" Coco said, not understanding what was happening. "Where are Mepple and Mipple-coco?"

"They aren't available at the moment," said White showing a blue device. "But we will gladly deliver any message you have for them as soon as possible."

"What's going on," Aqua asked, the feeling of unease turning up for a moment.

"Us? Nothing special, I think," Black scratched her cheek, never letting her smile drop.

Rouge reached the limit of her patience and shouted. "Misumi-senpai, what do you want now?"

The rest of the group glanced at Rouge out of the corner of their eyes and then back to Cure Black. Honoka Yukishiro was obviously Cure White.

"Simple, Natsuki-san," the easygoing smile suddenly gained a darker edge, "What do you think of a little game before we tell you?"

"If you win, we will tell you what we are after," White elaborated with a serene smile that put the others on edge. "But if you lose, well, I think you'll have to stay in the Dark."

"What kind of game are you talking about?" asked Dream, switching into an offensive position, but still held back, not feeling like fighting against fellow warriors.

The words had barely left Dream's lips when Black and White covered the distance between them with frightening speed. The warriors' fists dug into Milky Rose's stomach with overwhelming power, followed by another strike to the back of the purple haired girl that made Milk bounce off the ground; the impact strong enough to undo Milk's transformation. Miraculously, the other three fairies remained unscathed.

"_Rose!"_

With Milky Rose knocked out, Black and White put some ground between them once again. Dream and the other girls checked on Milk, relieved to see her alive but unconscious, not showing signs of waking up any time soon.

"This is our kind of game, Cure Dream," Black said with a toothy smile. "Fight with everything you got, because we ain't holding back! Besides, both sides fighting to their full potential..."

"... is the only way to show your respect to your adversary," White finished.

"You're Pretty Cure like us! We don't have to fight each other!" Dream said in a tone both incredulous and furious. "We're supposed to protect the worlds, not hurt each other for no reason!" she said, holding Milk in her arms.

"If that's all you have to say then there's no point waiting any more. Let's go, White!"

Black made a direct line after Dream, cocking a fist back, but Rouge intercepted her first and both girls exchanged blows without delay. The redhead had a score to settle with her senpai and Rin wasn't about to stay back with crossed arms while they were looking for a fight.

"My opinion of you was accurate, you got a lot of skill!" Black said with a confident and almost arrogant smile. "You're strong but you aren't giving your all. Don't hold back! _Attack!"_

"I don't understand why you want to fight so much... _But I promise I will pound you down this time!"_

Dream left Milk in the care of Coco and company but she didn't know what else to do. On one end of the clearing Rouge and Black were fighting while on the other end White stared Mint, Aqua and Lemonade down with a placid expression. Dream didn't want to fight, she _knew_ she shouldn't, but Black and White were serious.

"_Fire Strike!"_

The invocation caught her friends by surprise and they turned to look at the two girls. The fireball rushed after Black, but it didn't seem as if the girl were to dodge. Quite the contrary. Before the fireball reached its target Black rushed forward with a fist, blowing up the attack in a rain of glowing embers. Her fist was singed but the warrior in black didn't show any sign of injury or even pain.

"That's all you got, Rouge?"

"_Shooting Star!"_ Dream scream and zeroed on Black with her best attack, approaching from her blind spot.

"Don't you get it? We're not just another monster or like any enemy you have fought before!" Black roared, stopping Dream with her left fist. The magical aura still impacted against Black with an explosion of energy but she immediately retaliated back with her right fist, aiming for the pinkette's stomach and punching Dream off the ground, knocking her unconscious.

"_Dream!"_

Despite Rouge's insistent shaking, the pink clad girl remained unresponsive, filling Rouge with burning fury. The redhead launched herself at Black with a rain of punches and kicks and flaming attacks, but the other girl had little problem dodging and blocking everything Rouge did.

On the other side of the clearing, White looked down at the other girls in patience.

"Will you stay there and do nothing, or would you want me to try my hand first?" White asked with a calm smile that made the others bristle.

"We're three against one, maybe you should be more careful with your words," Aqua said in a clipped tone.

"Are you trying to say you will let me attack first because you have the numerical advantage?" the girl murmured and then her eyes settled on each of the girls. "I got you..."

White flexed her legs a little and in the next blink she was already over them, taking Lemonade by one shoulder and dragging the blond with her in two powerful strides, far away from Mint's and Aqua's reach.

"Cure Lemonade, your speciality is paralyzing the enemy with energy binds, light based attacks, perfect for a second line attack," White listed as if she were providing an answer in class. The other three girl's eyes widened in surprise, realizing why Black and White hadn't fought the Zakenna. "Your weakness is close quarter combat!"

Lemonade tried to free herself but White kept her in an iron grip, quickly turning her original hold into a chokehold. A little pressure and the blond girl fell unconscious. White simply released Lemonade, letting the girl drop bonelessly to the ground.

"_Sapphire Arrows!"_Aqua invoked and three water arrows rushed directly at White, but the dark haired girl deflected the attack with three precise and fast kicks, flowing with the attacks to move away and keep her balance. "You'll pay for what you did to Lemonade. Mint, let's go!"

"Yes!"

"Cure Aqua, offensive, Cure Mint, defensive," White said, dodging furious attacks. "To ensure your offensive will go unopposed, you must make sure to get rid of your enemy's defense!" White closed in on Mint and with precise and fluid motions put her in a chokehold too, trying to subdue the tall girl, but Mint was ready and Aqua rushed in to help... only to be caught by White too as she parried, twisted and lashed out in a single smooth motion. "Or disable both ends at the same time! Did you really expect me to give you any chance to surprise me?"

Trying to make the most of the situation Aqua and Mint landed as many blows on White as they could, but the dark haired girl held her ground. Aqua was about to call for more arrows, trying to summon them against White's stomach.

"Black!"

"Got it!"

The girl in black caught Rouge's incoming first and then bodily hurled her at White, who in turn changed her hold on Mint and Aqua to then crush the Fire Warrior between her friend's bodies as if she were catching a fly in mid-flight with her palms. Three groaning girls dropped like rocks to the ground.

Black picked Dream by the back of her uniform and tossed towards the rest of her friends, who were starting to stir back into consciousness.

White and Black moved away from the defeated team and got together again. Holding one of their hands, they raised their free hands to the sky and summoned white lighting bolts and black lighting bolts respectively.

"This game wasn't fun at all!" Black said while she let the power of the Black Thunder course through her body.

"There may be other Pretty Cures who will make for better rivals. At least some that won't hold back for such simple things like these girls. It won't do if they don't fight with everything they have, I feel almost offended. They may have the skill but not the spirit, what a shame."

"Ready, White?"

The lighting around them intensified and the couple stretched their free hands towards the downed girls.

"_Marble Screw!"_

A blinding beam of black and white lighting rushed after Dream's team. Dream and Lemonade were still out and Mint, Aqua and Rouge were still too disoriented to do anything but stare dumfounded, not really understanding what they were seeing, as the massive energy was about to crash on them with an almost absolute finality.

There was an explosion, the sound of something shattering and then a blinding light.

The stunned team blinked the light away from their eyes to see at two new figures standing in front of them. One was clad in pink with an uniform that resembled a flower, while the other was dressed in light colors with an uniform that resembled feathers. They were holding one of their hands while the other was held forward, very much like White and Black had done before to unleash that monstrous power. Unlike them, this new pair had created an energy shield that had endure long enough the attack of Black and White before crumbling to pieces.

"This is getting better," Black grinned.

"They certainly look interesting," White murmured.

"You... who are you...?" Rouge asked.

"They are the guardians of the Land of Fountains!" Coco shouted in happiness.

The newcomers released their hands and briefly turned their attention to the injured warriors. Then they looked back at the other pair, frowning in a mix of confusion and anger.

"Cure White and Cure Black, isn't it?" the girl with the light uniform inquired.

"At your service," White replied with a polite bow. "I think it's your turn now."

"The Shinning Golden Flower, I'm Cure Bloom!" said the girl in pink.

"The Radiant Silver Wing, I'm Cure Egret!" her partner followed right away.

"If you want a fight that badly, I think we can fulfill that wish!" Bloom knuckles started creaking.

"You had no reason to hurt them like this when they had no desire to fight you at all. You are warriors like all of us, we have to help each other, not cause pain!" Egret glared in righteous anger.

"Help...?" White asked. "Not this again..."

"There's no reason to go to these lengths to look for a fight against other Cures... you must be controlled by something bigger and we're going to find out what it is, even if we have to beat the answers outta you!" Bloom roared.

"Now, that's what I wanted to hear!" Black cracked her knuckles and got ready for the second round along with White.

The new warriors were ready, providing enough time for the defeated team to pull themselves back together. Black and White didn't seem intimidated by the numeric disadvantage, though.

The dying rays of sun were the only witnesses of this unusual battle.


	3. Chapter 3

**ALL STARS: THE GREAT BATTLE OF THE LIGHT  
><strong> 

**Pretty Cure belongs to Toei Animation.  
>The plot is mine.<br>English version thanks to ****dan heron****. id: 482555**

**Part 3:****  
><strong>**_Allies and Enemies_**

Despite fighting against a numerical superior group, Black and White only suffered minor injuries and a few tears on their uniforms, nothing that could tell any sign of even getting tired. It was true that Dream's team had held back a lot of their potential, a fact abused by Black and White, but the newcomers weren't about to make the same mistake.

Their battle ready stances, and visible spiritual auras flowing around them sort of hint to that.

"Two versus two... that sounds a bit more fair," Black murmured. "Ready, White?"

"Always."

Bloom and Egret had managed only to watch the end of the fight but they still managed to gather Black was physically powerful, while White flowed around her opponents to get rid of them and had a killer kick too.

Both couples started to circle around the clearing, keeping the eyes on their opponents at every moment.

"Black is mine," Bloom whispered.

"I'll fight against White then," Egret nodded, never taking her eyes off the white clad girl.

"They work almost exactly like you do-lapi," Flappy informed them from Bloom's case. "Don't let them get together so they can't use their full powers! They don't have individual attacks, so don't fear a magic attack from them-lapi!"

"Just make sure you don't touch the accessories on their waist. That's where Mepple and Mipple are resting; they must be in problems, I feel can't their presences-chopi."

"Got it!" both girls replied.

Black was growing impatient but White took her hand to calm her partner down. They exchanged a glance and nodded. They knew that unlike Dream's team this couple wouldn't fall prey to confusion... this was looking like a more entertaining fight already!

"White, now!"

"Let's go!"

The pair rushed after Bloom and Egret with lighting like speed, but the other two raised energy shields each one. The impact carried them back several feet, letting the momentum take them away and provide some ground between them and their attackers. Black and White pressed on, punching and kicking through every energy shield Bloom and Egret created, and forcing the other two to drop the defensive tactic.

As Black ran after Bloom with a cocked fist and White jumped and started spinning ready to lash out with a kick at Egret, Saki and Mai knew there was only one way to go.

Bloom moved to intercept Black, both girls's fists colliding with a bang. Almost immediately Black broke through, making Bloom spin back but the pink clad girl quickly called forth spirits towards her feet and launched herself forward, spinning low and slamming her open palm against Black's side. The focused blast of spiritual power at blank point launched the dark clad girl away to the side, making her bounce against a tree.

Egret stood her ground, watching White about to lash out a kick intended to take off Egret's head. Calling forth as much spiritual power as she could she caused a blast to explode on the ground bellow White's airborne body. The sudden blast behind White combined with her own momentum made her overcompensate over Egret, speeding dangerously fast towards the surrounding trees; White however managed to right herself and place her legs ahead of her to absorb the impact.

Black and White got back to their feet and glanced at their partner across the clearing. Sharing a grin and a nod they attacked once again. They approached from opposite sides, trying to get Egret and Bloom between their attacks.

Bloom and Egret jumped high before the impact and Black and White jumped too in pursuit. Immediately they noticed the other two girls hadn't gone far away, in fact, they had barely moved. Bloom and Egret were floating upside down, holding one of the other's hands while the free hand was stretched down, right on top of Black's and White's faces.

The spiritual power pushed Black and White back to the ground, trying to force them to their knees but they resisted the push. Once the energy stopped they looked up to see Bloom and Egret circling above them in the air.

"They fly?" Black yelled, very unhappy with the revelation. "I can't believe it... that's cheating!"

"They'll have to come down someday, Black, calm down," White said with a little smile.

The flying couple realized they had to be very careful on their approach. Black and White recovered too fast and they could easily overpower their spiritual power... Nodding at each other Egret and Bloom started dive bombing, trying to come at odd angles and using their spiritual powers indirectly to keep Black and White off balance. Every time Nagisa and Honoka tried to go back to the offensive Egret and Bloom would climb back up, blasting more spiritual power for their problems.

Egret's and Bloom's feet were suddenly enveloped by a bright light and they shot straight up until they disappeared on the distance high up. Black and White exchanged a confused glance before Black was ran over by Bloom, flying like a missile, while White just barely managed to bend over backwards, letting Egret's ax kick pass harmlessly above her. Bloom was a little disoriented after the brutal crash and was just a moment too slow to recover, allowing Black to counterattack... but Egret denied Black any retribution, quickly pulling her partner back hundreds of feet up the sky.

"It's not working," Egret murmured, panting quietly from their last failed attack. They had covered a long enough distance to allow them to reach their full speed, flying in a large arc to try and surprise Black and White attacking from ground level. While they could easily aim for Black, White was skilled enough to dodge even their fastest attacks. "We will have to tak-... what are they doing?"

"No idea," Bloom mumbled.

At ground level, Black and White suddenly split apart, putting a long distance between each other before running back together at a high speed.

The recovered Dream, Aqua, Rouge, Lemonade and Mint were back up and just in time to see the two girls suddenly jump forward with their legs on the front.

Both girls crashed feet first against each other and the momentum made White's body angle back and down; the black haired girl planted her hands on the ground and with a mighty yell she sprang her body straight, sending Black flying up at breakneck speed. Egret managed to dodge the black missile but Black managed to land a glancing blow on Bloom, causing her to break away from her partner. Egret's and Bloom's attention was immediately on Black who was coming back down, never realizing White was using the trees as springboards to climb up until Egret found herself in White's tight embrace.

"I got you now, Silver Wing!" White whispered from behind Egret, switching her hold on the purple haired girl to put her into a painful submission hold. The sudden pain and pull broke Egret's concentration, causing both girls to plummet to the ground.

"Egret!"

"You're mine, Golden Flower!" Bloom only had time to turn back up before Black crashed from above her, enveloping the other blond in a crushing bear hug. The pressure was so strong Bloom couldn't help screaming out loud, losing her focus on her flight.

The four girls spiraled down in front of the terrified's eyes of the other five warriors. They could see Black and White were going to force Bloom and Egret to take the combined blunt of their fall, and the two girls were unable to fight off the overwhelming strength of their opponents.

"You're crazy, you're going to get hurt too!" Bloom shouted, trying to focus her power again and fly.

"You're not using your full powers, so we're going to make you!" White said, twisting Egret's limbs even harder.

"Oh, Wind Spirits, hear my call!" Egret shouted and the air bellow them started to spin into a visible mass, slightly cushioning their fall, but that only allowed Black and White to keep their hold on Bloom and Egret after the impact.

"Good save! That looked like it was going to hurt!" Black smiled.

"W-what are you trying to accomplish with this?" Egret grounded from bellow White's body, struggling against the constant and painful pressure.

"The deal was we would tell you if any of you could beat us," replied Black's partner. "So far, we're still on top, so you will have to stay with the doubt for a little while longer."

"If we can't find somebody who can entertain us enough and push us to reach our limits among all of you, then we will have to look for the other teams. There's a Pretty Cure team in Clover Town, and another in the next district, they may give us a good fight... unless you want to try again?"

Bloom and Egret exchanged a glance, and knew what the other was thinking. '_Reach their limits? What could they mean by that?'_

"Buuut if you want a clue, we can tell you we want to have some fun before we get rid of all of you. Simple like that..." Black said with a grin that made the other pair growl.

Before anybody could reply, the bells on L'Ecole des Cinq Lumiere began to toll for the end of the festival, signaling that the buses were starting to leave.

"Saved by the bell..." White murmured and she and her partner finally released their opponents. Getting back to their feet, Honoka bowed politely. "See you later, Cure Egret."

"See ya, Cure Bloom. We could pay you a visit to your district soon..." Nagisa said her goodbyes with a smile.

"You should hurry back to your schoolmates, or they will start wondering where you two are," Honoka looked at the other team. "You take care, you're not seriously hurt but you may need to take it easy for a while. If you excuse us." White and her partner turned around and disappeared between the woodland.

Bloom and Egret managed to sat up, still sore from the tight embrace they had been under, while the other team was already back up, including little Milk who had already woken up. To tell the truth, they hadn't been badly hurt, just a bit banged thanks to the rough and sudden combat.

"Hyuga-san and Mishou-san, right?" Dream asked with a little smile.

"We can introduce ourselves once we get back to the school grounds," Mai said with a sweet expression, "Are all of you okay?"

"Nothing to worry about, we weren't badly hurt, to tell the truth," Aqua replied in a surprised tone. "None of them tried to really injure us, just knock us out."

"They were playing with us," Rouge snorted, still upset at getting beaten twice by Nagisa the same day.

They undid their transformations while the fairies went back to their Human forms. There wasn't much time left to talk with Saki and Mai, but Natsu managed to give them a device similar to a cellphone to communicate between both teams. In the end Saki and Mai managed to make it in time to their group before the buses left.

"I'm Yumehara Nozomi, third grade," Nozomi introduced herself, now recovered and back to her usual mood.

"Name's Natsuki Rin, but you already knew that," the athlete smiled, "I'm in the same grade than Nozomi."

"Kusagano Urara, second grade, you probably saw me during the concert," giggled the little blond.

"A couple times on television," Sakid replied with a big smile.

"Minazuki Karen, at your service, first grade in high-school," Karen said with the proper manners.

"And I am Akimoto Komachi, same grade than Karen," the green haired girl said in a gentle voice.

On the side, the fairies introduced themselves, but the differences between their original names and those of their Human personas was a bit hard to follow for Mai and Saki... not to mention the blond girl thought all of their names sounded "_delicious._"

"Name's Hyuga Saki," she said again, giving them a wide smile. "I'm on their grade."

"And I'm Mishou Mai, it's a pleasure. I'm in Saki's group too," said the blue haired girl.

Both groups then had to say good bye and get to know each other later. The buses were about to leave so they agreed to get in contact later that night through the devices Natsu had given them; since Saki was going to spend the night at Mai's there wouldn't be problems on their side. Natsu realized this could be a problem in the future, so he informed everybody they were going to get each their own devices, like Nozomi's group already did, so everybody could be in contact at any time.

In one of the buses carrying the girls from Verone, a happy atmosphere filled the night. There were whispered conversations, more than a few groups giggling themselves silly and more than a few were already sleeping. Nagisa and Honoka were at the back, sitting one next to the other; Nagisa was resting her head on Honoka's shoulder, letting her friend clean Nagisa's singed fingers.

"That was very reckless of you," she scowled her friend, giving a little kiss to the burnt knuckles.

"I know, I know, but you can't tell me I didn't look cool blowing up the fire with my hands," Nagisa giggled. "Besides, it'll heal on its own, tomorrow's morning I will be as good as new. It doesn't even hurt anymore."

"Nagisa," Honoka whispered, delicately frowning. "I know you're right, but still..."

"Hey, what do you think if we visit Clover Town?" Nagisa suddenly asked with a sly smile. "I heard they make awesome donuts and I want to try them!"

"Only if we stop to buy some books first! If I let you eat we won't have any time left to do anything else before we have to introduce ourselves to our next partners," Honoka replied and her expression darkened.

"Deal!"

Under the shade at the back of the bus, both girls shared a brief but passionate kiss, one that promised so much more once they were back home and alone.

In the observatory of the Mishou, Saki and Mai were sharing a futon, barely big enough for the both of them, but they didn't mind the closeness. The communication device was laid between them over one of the pillows, having just been debriefed about what happened since Dream and her team fought a dark being called "Zakenna" until their fight with Black and White.

"I'm worried something happened to Mipple and Mepple-coco," came Coco's voice. "They are White and Black's guardians, and there's something weird happening in the Garden of Light. Syrup couldn't go there, it's almost as if that dimension had been blocked off by a barrier. It's impossible to contact the Queen of Light. This could be very bad-coco."

"Then it is possible those two are being controlled," Mai mused. "Their essence felt... unusual and heavy."

"It felt as if they weren't completely honest either, I could feel it," Nozomi said in a depressed tone. "It was as if _they_weren't the ones really talking."

There was a moment of silence, a few sighs could be heard, along with some chosen remarks from Kurumi to Nagisa and Honoka.

"They mentioned something about other two Pretty Cure teams. Something about Clover Town," Rin suddenly said.

"That's were a friend of us lives, the prince Tart-nuts," Nuts replied. "He has four warriors under his care, and they are Chiffon's guardians, the source of infinite... knowledge... nuts..." he trailed off, a look of horrified realization crossing his face.

"It's possible they will target Chiffon-coco!" Coco gasped, the look on his face mirroring Nuts's.

"If there's somebody controlling them, it makes sense they would try to go after Chiffon-lapi," the Spirit of Flowers said. "It would be terrible if the wrong people get their hands on her-lapi."

"If these Pretty Cure hold back against Black and White like we did those two will have an easy time capturing Chiffon," Karen said.

"We are lucky. I don't think we have anything that they could take-coco," the prince muttered.

Coco and Nuts decided to go looking for Tart next morning, to give him a heads up and he could get his girls ready.

"Still, I don't want to fight with Black and White," Nozomi sighed, catching everybody's attention. "I don't know how to explain it, but I can feel... _something_ within them. It's possible that whoever controls them want _**us**_ to hurt Nagisa and Honoka."

"That's very possible too," Mai said in a somber tone.

"The only thing we can do is find the other Pretty Cure teams and forewarn them about the situation. We have nothing that could be used by other people, and could it be the same with you, girls?" Karen said to Saki and Mai.

"No, we just have our own powers and nothing more," Saki replied. "Anyway, we still have to prepare, Black and White will still want to fight us if we mess with their plans."

"Those girls work like Bloom and Egret-lapi, Black and White need of each other to use their full potential-lapi," the Spirit of the Flowers explained. "Although, I could tell their mutual dependence is far deeper."

"On their own they can only use physical attacks-chopi, they wouldn't be able to use all of their powers unless they have physical contact-chopi," supplied the Spirit of the Birds.

"Then, they will be easier to handle if we keep them apart," Komachi murmured. "They only used their magic attack until they touched each other's hands! They didn't even use any other magic attack... though their monstrous strength and speed more than compensate for it," she added, clearly remembering the pain.

"If we attack as a group we will just have to keep them apart or focus on taking down one of them, and it will be easier to subdue the other. Then we will just have to find out who is controlling them and break them out of the spell," Karen continued, a sure and excited tone on her voice.

"It's a good plan but it will still be very hard-coco," the prince immediately broke in. "Every Pretty Cure is born with a Seal of protection that prevents them from attacking other Pretty Cure with their full powers-coco. I'm not really sure if Nagisa and Honoka managed to break that Seal or not, though, they didn't seriously hurt any of you-coco.

"In any case, we will just have to focus on splitting them apart and take one of them down. That way they won't be able to fight at their full power-coco."

Saki looked at Mai for a moment, and Mai, feeling the other's eyes on her, turned to her partner. They held their hands under the blankets, and squeezed tightly. Splitting Nagisa and Honoka apart was a good idea, it was a solid plan, but...

Unbidden memories resurfaced. Those times Dark Fall had tried and succeeded on keeping them apart, during battle or before they could take their empowered forms...

"I... I don't think that will be a good idea," Mai said in a hesitant tone that quickly gained strength. "It could be dangerous for us." The group on the other end of the line kept silence. "If Black and White work like Saki and I and they _**need**_ of each other, then the bond that ties them is very strong."

"But it would be the easiest way to-."

"Yes, we know, we could easily weaken them, but..."

"They will look for each other. They will _need_ each other and will do _anything_ to be with their partner," Saki continued in same serious tone than Mai's. "If they didn't try to hurt us before then now could be very different if we succeed on keeping them from reaching each other." She gave a quick squeeze at Mai's hand. "Being apart from your partner is... it fills you with a _horrible_ despair and you- you just stop thinking about yourself... you can only think about what could be happening to her, thinking only about her safety... about doing _anything,_no matter what happens to you, as long as you can be with her again..."

"If we manage to seriously hurt one of them, then the other... we may not be able to stop them," Mai whispered, closing her eyes as she couldn't help but imagine herself and Saki in that situation.

A new silence fell over both groups. Saki and Mai didn't know what more to say, while the other group wondered about what could have happened to their friends to give them such knowledge.

"I propose we look for the other Pretty Cure, explain the situation and device a fight plan before Black and White can get to them," Karen broke the silence. "They may be strong, but they are only two. We just have to knock them out and then we will be able to help them. We should be able to subdue them despite the defense Seal on us."

"Sounds like a better plan," Saki laughed. "I can't really recommend to split them apart, it could come back and bite us later."

They polished a few more details that night; Syrup would be in charge of contacting and delivering all the information to the guardians of the other Pretty Cures. Nuts would go through an inventory of anything or anybody of value besides Chiffon, that the Pretty Cure teams could have and that Black and White could be after. If everything went without a problem, then they could visit Clover Town next weekend and met their fellow warriors. According to the fairies there were two active teams that were strong enough to be of any help against Nagisa and Honoka.

One of those teams were Chiffon's guardians, four very versatile warriors: the Cures Peach, Berry, Pine and Passion. The other team was in charge of guarding the Great Tree of Hearts, four Cures under the care and supervision of the legendary fairy Coupe and Cure Flower, a retired Pretty Cure who had protected the world many decades ago; the current team was made up by: Cures Blossom, Marine, Sunshine and Moonlight. The latter was a well known veteran warrior with great individual powers.

"We'll go to your district tomorrow, we don't have any plans at the moment and I think it would be nice to talk about something other than fights," Saki said. "We can plan our visit to Clover Town later on. Where can we find you?"

"Just ask for "Natts House", that's where Coco, Nuts, Milk and Syrup live," Nozomi replied immediately, already excited. "We live not far from there."

"We can't tell you the exact hour we will arrive," Mai said with a sigh, "Saki always sleeps in and we are always late." The other girls couldn't help giggling, causing Saki to blush.

"Mai, they didn't need to know about that!" Saki blurted, sounding very embarrassed.

"Eh, it's not that bad, we have our Nozomi! She's always getting lost on her own, so we can never be on time to anything either," Rin said mischievously.

"Rin-chan!" Nozomi cried out just as embarrassed. "Well, we'llseyoutomorrowgirls, it'sdecided!"

There were a few laughs and some encouraging words to ease their nerves and then they bid the others good night.

Saki buried her face in the pillow, she was exhausted. The festival had taken a lot of her and the fight had taken any energy she had left and now they had a new fight in their hands. At least they weren't on their own this time.

She turned her head a little and saw Mai, directing a pensive look at the ceiling, lost in her thoughts. Saki couldn't help smiling.

"Mai..."

The other girl started and turned her attention back to her partner. They were still holding hands so Saki squeezed a little tighter, giving Mai a big smile. The artist felt herself returning the gesture immediately.

"Congratulations on winning the tournament, you were great," the artist said in a quiet whisper.

"Congratulations for winning the special award, you deserved it," replied the athlete.

They shared a look full of intense, devoted love, letting the rest of the world fade away into the background. Flappy and Choppy noticed and ever so quietly they took their regular forms and silently made their way out; not that they needed to make any effort, Saki and Mai were utterly lost in their own little world.

As soon as the girls noticed the privacy granted by their guardians Saki smiled and quickly straddled Mai's stomach, taking the other girl by surprise. Her calloused hands took in Mai's gentle hands, pinning them above the artist's head.

"We're lucky your parents went on that trip and Kazuya-san decided to stay with his friends, isn't it?" Saki whispered, leaning close to Mai, their lips almost brushing as she spoke.

"Saki..." the artist blushed red all the way to her hears.

"I've hold back all this week because of the festival," she continued, intertwining their fingers. "But no more, we have all night now..."

A sigh escaped Mai's lips, drawing a little smile on her face and gave a sweet look at the girl on top of her.

"I just hope we can get some rest," Mai whispered, her body enjoying the contact already, shivering in anticipation for what was to come. "I don't want to be half sleep when we visit our new friends."

"I can't promise anything," Saki said before sealing Mai's lips with her own.

It was a new day in Clover Town and Miki was very excited. She was in the city's amphitheater along with Inori. Love and Setsuna were already on their way and would be there in any minute. Inori noted with a smile her friend's excitement as the blue haired girl leafed through her magazine. On the cover was a girl with a slim figure and radiant smile, Kurumi Momoka, a professional model. Momoka's agency had contacted Miki to do a joint photo shoot for next month's edition.

It would be a steeping stone for Miki's professional career... and she was a huge fan of Kurumi Momoka.

"I thought you'd see Kurumi-san until the day of the shoot, it's really lucky you got to know her beforehand," Inori said, taking the magazine from Miki's hands.

"It was supposed to be all between our agencies and agents, but I heard she wanted to get to know me first. The agency asked me to give her and some friends of hers a tour around town. They think that if we get to know outside the job we'll have better chemistry for the photo-shoot," Miki replied with a wide smile.

"She looks like a nice girl," Inori smiled, watching over some photos of Momoka. "And beautiful."

They had made plans to go around town with Kurumi Momoka and her friends, so Miki had recruited Love, Inori and a recently returned Setsuna to liven up the trip. As far as Miki knew, Kurumi Momoka was bringing her younger sister and three other friends. Ah, Miki couldn't wait to ask so many things to Momoka!

"Miki-tan!" Love shouted from the entry of the amphitheater, dragging Setsuna by the hand. By the way a breathless Setsuna was leaning on Love the pair had had to made a mad dash to get on time.

"With a minute of spare!" Inori smiled to her friends. "We'll wait for them at the train station, in around thirty minutes, so no need to worry."

"Thanks again, girls," Miki said with a little nod. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"That's what friends are for!" Love exclaimed. "And since we have Setsuna back, then we can all obtain happiness!"

"Love, that doesn't really make sense..." Miki muttered.

Inori and Setsuna giggled at their friends antics before leading the way to the train station.

Setsuna had returned a week ago to Clover Town. Her home, Labyrinth, had achieved the stability and tranquility that deserved and Setsuna had seriously considered going back to the city. She missed Love dearly, the Momozono family and their friends Inori and Miki. She was suffering a big case of homesickness despite being back home.

Her return took more than a few by surprise, having come back without notifying anybody in Earth about it. She was received once again as the Momozono's adopted daughter, and inscribed once again for middle-school's third grade and as a member of Clover along with her three friends.

That, according to Love, was "Obtaining Complete Happiness."

"Where is Tart and the others?" asked Love with her usual smile.

"Tart-san, Chiffon-chan and Azukina-san are with Kaoru-chan," Inori replied. "Since they returned a couple days ago they wanted to eat some donuts and it was impossible to stop them."

"I don't blame them, those donuts can really make you happy," Love sighed, her mouth watering at the mere memory of the donuts made by Kaoru-chan.

"Love-chan, if you keep clinging to Setsuna-chan like that you'll end up taking her hand," Inori said with an embarrassed look, seeing as her friend hadn't let Setsuna a moment of rest all this time.

"Well, I don't see Setsuna complaining, Bukki," Miki muttered, looking at the ever serene expression on the other girl.

Setsuna still had much to learn about social skills and how to express her feelings. Luckily she had Love at hand all day and every day, and was quickly learning. Although, while on that particular day both Love and Setsuna were acting like their usual selves, Setsuna had a hint of a... _special_ smile on her lips.

"Is it me, or something happened to you two?" Miki mused out loud.

"Something good!" Love smiled, "But that's a secr-."

"Love kissed me last night," Setsuna informed them with the same casualness somebody notes the time of the day. "She also told me she loved me."

Love suddenly stopped in mortification, looking like the proverbial deer, Miki and Inori just stared open-mouthed due to the surprise and the apparent lack of emotion that Setsuna delivered her revelation with. Miki tried her best to act as if nothing were out of the ordinary, taking Setsuna by the shoulders to encourage her to walk again while Inori dragged the petrified Love.

"Setsuna... that-that kind of things must remain a secret-Not because they are wrong! But, a couple's love is something... private... yes," Miki explained in a simple and direct way, wanting to prevent another episode like this... especially for Love's sake.

"I understand," Setsuna replied with total serenity.

"Congratulations, Love-chan," Inori whispered to a semi recovered Love.

"Th-thanks, Bukki..." Love managed to mumble.

At the station Miki reminded Setsuna to be more discrete. She knew it would be complicated to explain, and get Setsuna to understand, but there were some things that society still didn't accept about love between people of the same gender. She knew Setsuna didn't see the world in such complex way, so they were sure Setsuna would accept the idea of love being a private and treasured matter. Miki and Inore exchanged a glance, agreeing to interrogate Love later on about all the juicy details as soon as possible.

They made it to the station with time to spare and didn't have to wait long before the beautiful figure of Kurumi Momoka stepped out of the train, immediately capturing many people's attention. The tall girl looked around and soon noticed Miki. Momoka ran towards them, waving an arm.

"Aono Miki, right?" asked the girl with a sweet smile. "It's a pleasure."

"The pleasure is mine, Kurumi-san," Miki replied, trying to stomp on her nerves.

"Kurumi-san is too formal. If we're going to work together we can afford being a little more comfortable around each other, don't you think?" Momoka said with a cheerful smile.

"Momoka...senpai?" asked the younger girl with an embarrassed smile.

"I like the sound of that, Miki-chan!"

Behind Momoka came four more girls. One was a very tall, bespectacled girl who looked to be around Momoka's age, another was a very short girl who was obviously the model's little sister, next to her another girl with glasses and with long and pink hair, and finally a pretty boy dressed in denim jeans and carrying a couple suitcases.

"Momoka-senpai, these are my friends," Miki said. "Here is Momozono Love, this is Yamabuki Inori and she's Higashi Setsuna. We are the dancing group "Clover".

"I heard about that," she said, giving a smile to the other three girls. "It's a pleasure to met you, girls. The girls coming with me," she pointed at her companions. "This is my little sis-."

"Name's Erika!" came the animated and strong voice.

"Ah... ah... Hanasaki Tsubomi, it's a pleasure!" came the nervous voice.

"I am Tsukikage Yuri, it's nice to met you," came the serious voice.

"Myoudouin Itsuki, nice to meet you," came the boy's... velvety... voice...

Miki and company blinked in synchrony. Momoka has said... "girls"... They exchanged a look and silently agreed to say nothing. Luckily the guests didn't notice anything.

"Shall we go, Momoka-senpai?" Miki asked with renewed cheerfulness.

"Of course!"

"We'll take you eat the best donuts in the whole city," Love said. "You'll love them!"

It wasn't long before the large group were chatting animatedly. They had just clicked together, as if they had known each other for far longer than just a couple hours. They felt a special and strong presence on each other, except in Momoka's case whose presence and aura was fairly normal.

Meanwhile, in the donuts cafe, Kaoru was enjoying a slow afternoon with his little guests, sampling some donuts in his van.

"What happiness!" Tart sighed after his tenth donut. "Kaoru-chan, you're the best!"

"I know, my friend, I know!" laughed the man with a huge smile. "Oh! Costumers! Keep quiet little ones," he told Tart, Azukina and Chiffon in a quiet voice. "Welcome, young ladies! How many donuts will you have?"

"One of each flavor to begin with!" Nagisa said in a playful tone.

"Nagisa, you eat too much," her partner scowled her in a quiet voice, the picture of proper manners.

"Honoka, you need to eat a little bit more and just enjoy the food!"

"Ha! I can promise you'll love my donuts, young ladies! Coming two orders with extra happiness!"

Nagisa and Honoka took their seats while they waited for the donuts. It had been a good idea to visit Clover Town earlier than planned. After eating they would look for their new partners. They could feel the presence of magical beings very nearby.

Things couldn't be any better.


	4. Chapter 4

**ALL STARS: THE GREAT BATTLE OF THE LIGHT  
><strong> 

**Pretty Cure belongs to Toei Animation.  
>The plot is mine.<br>English version thanks to ****dan heron****. id: 482555**

**Part 4:****  
><strong>**_Everybody Together_**

Momoka and her friends were enchanted by the city and they hadn't stopped commenting about it during their walk. It won't long before their trip through Clover Town lead them to a wide park, where Kaoru parked his donut café. Even from the distance, the sweet aroma assaulted the girls' senses, making it painful obvious it was past lunch time.

That day had been particularly quiet at the café, only a few people ordering some takeout and a couple of girls that more than made it up for it, eating a _considerable _amount of donuts; they were really delicious donuts.

"Kaoru-chan!" Love shouted.

"It smells so good!" Erika moaned, feeling her stomach demanding for food.

"You're right, it smells delicious," Itsuki said with a smile.

"We're lucky there isn't that many people. Some days you can even make it to the bus," Inori commented with a charming smile.

High on the sky, Chypre, Coffret and Potpourri were following the girls. They had preferred to enjoy their little vacation, flying on their own over pretending to be plush dolls. Seeing the girls stopping at a donuts stand, the fairies went to hide at the nearby trees and that's when they felt some very familiar magical presences.

They made their way closer to their girls, noticing the power coming from the other girls's devices and other presences inside the bus. Unable to contain their curiosity, the fairies flew into the vehicle.

"Tart!" Coffret shouted in a whisper.

"Ah, you guys!" the prince smiled in happiness and surprise, catching Chypre and Coffret in a tight hug. "It's been a while! Do you remember Azukina?"

"Of course! Lovely as always," Chypre replied, holding hands with Tart's fiance.

"And the little one?" asked Azukina as she spotted the young fairy.

"I'm Potpourri!" said the little fairy.

Chiffon looked very happy too, waving her arms around and floating up. The fairies got comfortable, reassured they didn't have to be quiet and enjoyed the donuts their hosts offered them.

"Tart-sama, do remember the message Syrup-kun delivered?" Azukina suddenly said.

"Ah, that's right! Coco and Nuts informed us there are some big problems, guys. There seems to be something wrong over the Garden of Light; Cure Black and Cure White are being controlled by something and they attacked at the group under princes' care and the guardians of the Land of Fountains. According to the message Cure Black and Cure White are planning to come here and it seems they may be after Chiffon. It would be a good idea if you tell your girls too."

"Are your girls aware of this?" Coffret asked in a worried tone.

"We just got the message and they are busy on some important appointment at the moment, we haven't been able to tell them just yet."

It wasn't long since Syrup had left and, unfortunately, he had gone to deliver the message to Cure Flower. On the other town.

"Tsubomi and the others are here," Chypre said, pointing at the tables in front of the café. "I think those are your girls, aren't they?" Tart nodded. "We're lucky then."

"Then we just need to wait for the right moment," Tart said in relief, feeling the worry drop off his shoulders. "I think we can fill them in later once we don't have an audience with us," he waved a paw to Kaoru's clientele. "I see five girls with you, one of them isn't a Pretty Cure, right?"

"Momoka knows about her friends' identities, we can confide on her," Coffret calmly replied. "We'll just have to wait until there is less people then."

"Okay, we must warn the girls," Tart sighed. "By what Coco and the others are saying, Black and White are serious about this. There hasn't been anyone seriously injured so far, but we can't be completely sure it will remain like that unless we find out what's wrong with those girls."

While the guardians were catching up and theorizing about what was happening with the Emissaries of Light, the group of nine girls were making idle chat as they ate. From the friendly and cozy town to Sunday's photo shoot, everything was surrounded by a friend atmosphere and plenty of delicious food. Kaoru brought them some drinks and a couple of bad jokes, much to Love's, Miki's and Inori's eternal embarrassment; Setsuna and Yuri were the only ones who found them funny, though.

There were a few costumers who managed to recognize Momoka and begged for autographs and some photographs, but their afternoon was a fairly one.

According to their schedule, the girls were to stay at a little hotel in the city, waiting for the magazine's production team next morning, so they decided to make their way there soon. It was at that moment that Love turned to their new friends with a smile.

"Momoka-san, we have been thinking about it and why don't we all stay at Miki-tan's, like a slumber party!" the blond said. "You call can all come, I would love to chat some more with you."

Momoka looked at her friends, waiting for their opinion.

"I'll go wherever you go," Itsuki replied.

"I'm going whenever you take me," Yuri said between bites.

"I wouldn't mind talking some more with them," Tsubomi said in a happy tone.

"Yes, a slumber party! The more the merrier! Let's go, Momo-nee!"

The model smiled at her hostesses and happily agreed, much to the joy of Miki and company. Much calmer now they reassumed their conversation, talking about nothing and watching costumers come and go. That was when Tsubomi suddenly perked up.

"Ah, Erika, wasn't there something you had been wanting to show to Miki-san?" Tsubomi asked to the blunette. "You were telling me that-."

The other girl took a moment to react, furiously blushing before pulling Tsubomi into a neck lock to shut her up. It went without saying everybody noticed her embarrassment, especially to Momoka's, Yuri's and Itsuki's eyes. The other group looked on expectantly.

"It's nothing!" Erika said with a nervous laugh.

"The... sketch... book..." Tsubomi managed to say, pushing Erika away. "The designs... for Miki-san..."

Itsuki took Erika's bag and took out said sketchbook much to Erika's horror... even more so when Itsuki showed the sketchbook to Miki and her friends.

"Those are the designs Erika drew thinking about you, Miki-san," Itsuki informed them with total serenity.

"Let's watch them then!" smiled the tall girl, accepting the book and leafing through it, her friends watching over her shoulder.

"Whoa!" Love murmured in awe, "Those are really good, Erika!" the rest of the girls soon were voicing their agreement with Love, praising the younger girl.

"Did you really designed them?" Miki asked in amazement. Erika and her group nodded in affirmative. "They are incredible! You really have talent, congratulations," she said with a wide smile. "It'd be an honor if you let me use some of your designs."

The blush of embarrassment of Erika quickly turned into one of happiness, though she was still a bit timid about it. She let Tsubomi go and tried to get back to her usual mood.

"I have the fabric, I'll get you a dress by tomorrow, Miki-san, whichever you like!"

"This, this one!" Love pointed one with blue ribbons.

"Better this one," Inori picked a design a few pages later.

"I think this one would suit you," Setsuna provided with critical eyes.

While the quartet discussed over the best design, the donuts café finally got a moment free of clients. The pair of girls that had gobbled on donuts finally left halfway through the girls' designs discussion, leaving the group of nine alone in the area. Kaoru decided to call in early that day thanks to the pair of girls, who not only ate a large number of donuts, but ordered just as many for takeout.

"Sorry girls, I'll close early today, and I'm sure you'll have plenty to talk with your friends," he said, pointing at his car.

Only Love and her friends got the meaning behind Kaoru's comment while the other five girls looked at their hostesses with confusion drawn on their faces.

"Girls, there's something we need to discuss, let's go to the amphitheater, we have an emergency meeting!" Tart jumped out of the car, scaring the living lights out of the guests.

"A talking animal!" Erika screamed, clinging tightly at Tsubomi.

"Is that a ferret?" Tsubomi asked in a frightened tone, clinging in time to Itsuki.

Momoka for her part had jumped into Yuri's arms, hugging tight enough to make breathing hard for the bespectacled girl. Yuri managed to keep an unflappable expression besides a little blush, though. Kaoru laughed uproariously and started to wipe the tables and pick up the chairs. After Tart came Chiffon, Azukina and the other three fairies.

"You too..?" Yuri couldn't manage to quite ask as Love immediately jumped into action.

"Yes, we're Pretty Cures!" the girl said positively trilled! "I knew there was something special about you girls!"

"I'm not a Pretty Cure," Momoka clarified, raising a hand and a smile on her face.

"Is there any problem if she knows?" Yuri inquired.

"No, not really, let's go to the amphitheater, girls, there isn't much time left and I should have told you this a while ago," Tart continued, leading the group away after saying goodbye to Kaoru.

As it was to be expected the place was empty, so the girls made themselves comfortable on the front rows while the fairies stood on the stage to stay in view of all the warriors and guest. Miki didn't look all too happy, she didn't like the idea of getting to know Kurumi Momoka in a combat situation, but duty was duty and she now had to do her best. Inori was a bit frantic, but did her best to remain calm, sitting next to Miki and clutching her mobil to her chest. Love and Setsuna were sitting together, holding hands, with the blond ready to burst with excitement at the thought of new Pretty Cures, while Setsuna was paying attention to Tart's message with a serious look.

As for the other group, Momoka was looking on how things unfolded with a bit of trepidation; she had caught up on the Pretty Cure business after Yuri and the girls came clean about it, and knew they had a most important mission so she had to do her best to aid them in any way she could. Yuri remained serious and alert, not at all thinking about how Momoka was pressing her body against her side. Erika was clenching her fists to keep from pacing around, she was a warrior at heart and the idea of a new fight with new partners had her fired up. Tsubomi sitting next to her best friend and taking Itsuki's arm but couldn't help being worried about the possible problem. Itsuki tried her best to remain firm while Tart cleared his throat.

"First of all, you know you aren't the only Pretty Cure team around," the prince said to his girls and then pointed at the other group. "They guard the Great Tree of Hearts, source of happiness in the hearts of every living being in this universe."

"And they," Chypre said, pointing at Tart's protegees, "are the guardians of the Kingdom of Sweets and protectors of Chiffon."

"Chiffon is the limitless source of knowledge," Coffret elaborated.

Chiffon for her part flew around the stage and hugged Love, who hugged her back with tender care.

"Other kingdoms and worlds have their own warriors, Pretty Cures like you. There's a group of five in charge of protecting Palmier Kingdom and the Cure Rose Garden, very important magic lands," Tart continued his explanation. He had to make sure to not drop the bad news too harshly. "There's also the Land of Fountains, the kingdom that houses all Nature Spirits, they only have two but very powerful warriors."

"There are many more Pretty Cure waiting to awaken to their powers, but they aren't ready to met you just yet," Coffret said.

"The most important kingdom, though, is the Garden of Light," it was Tart this time. "Their Queen provides the Light of Creation to all the other worlds. Without that Light there wouldn't be Life, so it is a most important place for everybody."

"The problem is that at the moment, the Pretty Cure who guard the Garden of Light seem to be possessed by somebody," Chypre said. "They are only two warriors, but they attacked and beat the guardians of the Land of Fountains and the Palmier Kingdom at the same time. On top of that, there's something happening in the Garden of Light; it is impossible to reach it at the moment."

Tart looked at Setsuna and nodded. She got the message and let Love go for a moment, taking her device, summoning at Akarun with a whisper. Her teammates were alert while the other girls looked on in curiosity.

"To the Garden of Light, please," Setsuna requested in a low voice and a red light shone brightly, but before anything else happened the light broke down in red motes of light, catching everybody by surprise. "What happened?"

"If Akarun's teleportation powers don't work, then the barrier that surrounds the Garden of Light is far stronger than we expected. There's something wrong there and we just don't know what it is," Tart said direly. "It seems, the Pretty Cures out of control are looking for key items. Or at least that's what our messenger friend from Palmier said."

"They are coming for Chiffon?" Love gasped, hugging the little fairy in her arms tighter.

"That seems to be the case, and those Pretty Cures are already moving. The other warriors didn't seem to have anything that could be taken, so Black and White are likely to come after Chiffon and after something from you girls may be protecting," he looked the other four warriors.

Yuri immediately shook her head in negative. "There's nothing that could be just taken," said the bespectacled girl. "The Heartcatch Mirage is the only thing that could be taken, but it is safe in the Pretty Cure Palace, and it's not a place that you can just walk in."

"Then we could help you protect Chiffon!" Tsubomi said in a rush. "We have to free these two warriors from the enemy's control."

"It won't be easy," Coffret said. "Every Pretty Cure has ah..." the fairy fumbled for a moment, trying to fish for the right word, "you all are programed to help each other and can find and recognize each other almost immediately, it is within you."

"That's why you felt that special aura. You all are made to fight alongside the others, it's part of your instincts," Chypre said. "You will never try to attack each other to the point of causing fatal injuries; you can fight, yes, but never to truly harm. Much less killing each other."

"Whatever is controlling these girls is strong enough to make them fight their own nature," Tart continued. "They are serious about this, and as far as the princes could tell us, they aren't holding back their attacks. You will have to fight against your own instincts if you want to have a chance. They won't listen to your words, you'll have to fight!"

The girls looked at each other in apprehension. They would do everything to protect Chiffon , but how could they fight against their own instincts of protecting each other to battle a pair of warriors controlled by the enemy...? An enemy that they didn't have the faintest idea who they could. It was a bad situation, but they were warriors, they were Pretty Cure, and they would fight their way through just like they always did.

It was their duty and they knew it.

"The other Pretty Cure teams are coming to help us on the fight," Chrypre said. "You'll get to know them soon. It may be a difficult situation but I can tell having the rest of your friends will help you."

"Meeting more friends sounds exciting!" Love said with a wide smile. Even if it was a delicate situation, the idea of getting to know new friends made her happy. "If we're going to met with more friends, and get two of our friends back, then you can count on me! With everybody together we can achieve happiness!"

"That's the spirit!" Miki said, caught on her partner's enthusiasm. "You can count with me too, I'll fight to perfection as usual."

"I too think we can do this. I think we can bring back those two girls with everybody else's help!" Inori continued, standing up in the process.

"I'll do my best in this fight," Setsuna said in her serious tone.

Tsubomi, Erika, Itsuki and Yuri looked at their fellow warriors with a fairly surprised look, but they too were caught in the moment.

"We'll fight!" Tsubomi raised her voice, but once she noticed everybody else's attention on her she blushed cutely in embarrassment. She was lucky Erika was there to rescue the situation.

"Let these two Pretty Cure come," she shouted in excitement. "If the only thing we hafta do is kick their asses to bring them back to their senses, you can count on me!"

Itsuki couldn't help giggling at the declaration while Yuri shook her head in exasperation, Momoka giggled quietly and Tsubomi blushed some more. Erika's animated words caused the somber mood to lighten immediately and calm the girls' nerves down. The chuckles died down after a while and then there was a moment of silent contemplation... that was interrupted by an unknown voice.

"That's what I wanted to hear!" somebody said in amusement. "It seems coming here earlier than planned already paid off, Honoka."

"Be thankful I woke you up early, or we would still be waiting for you to stop eating, Nagisa," replied a far calmer voice, yet carrying a slight strict tone.

The group immediately went into alert, franticly looking around.

Behind the stage two girls came out from behind the curtains. One with short, strawberry-blond hair, carrying a bag with Kaoru-chan's donuts in one hand while the other was holding a half eaten donut; seeing their attention on her the girl quickly devoured down the entire donut. The other girl had silky, long and black hair, carrying a book in one hand and more books in a bag hanging from her other shoulder. They put the articles down and then held hands.

"Dual Aura Wave!" they shouted and a blinding light fell on them, forcing the other girls to shield their eyes for a moment.

What they saw next was the two girls transformed into Pretty Cures. The short haired girl dressed in a black uniform, while the long haired girl dressed in white, both sporting confident and haughty smiles.

"It can't be, they are already here!" Tart gasped, shivering in fear.

"Emissary of Light, Cure Black!"

"Emissary of Light, Cure White!"

"The Garden of Light's guardians!" Cofret yelped and he and the other fairies quickly hid behind their protegees. "We couldn't even feel them approaching..."

The rest of the girls were grounded by the shock, remaining quiet, not knowing what to do at the moment. The silence stretched, turning even tenser. Yuri slowly moved herself in front of Momoka and slowly tried to get her Heart Seed out, sure one false move and the other Cures would attack. She would make sure to protect the other girls and Momoka.

"Come on, girls, transform," White said with a surprisingly kind smile that made the other girls shiver.

"There's no fun in an unfair fight, so hurry up and transform, we won't attack," Black said, reaching down for her donuts and taking a bite out of one of them. "Take your time since I'm gonna make sure you take your words seriously and give us a hell of a fight!"

While Black continued eating donuts with all the calm in the world and White scowled her partner's poor manners, the other girls were even more confused. That attitude wasn't something they would have expected... Some of them considered this pure disrespect, but others felt it was an external influence on the girls. The magical creatures were surprised at the sudden appearance of White and Black, yet their lack of interest on immediately following up with the combat... it was as if they were really expecting their girls to transform.

"Momoka, stay back and hide," Yuri whispered.

"Y-yes," the model replied, turning around and quickly moving to the back of the amphitheater.

"Girls, now!" Yuri ordered and her team immediately transformed. "The Flower that glistens in the light of the Moon, Cure Moonlight!"

"The Flower spreading throughout the Land, Cure Blossom!"

The Flower swaying in the Sea Breeze, Cure Marine!"

"The Flower that bathes in Sunlight, Cure Sunshine!"

They released a powerful aura, even if they hadn't been in battle for a couple months, they still held that power that overwhelmed the hearts of those who gazed at them. It was the first time Momoka had seen them transform and, she couldn't help it, she thought Yuri looked really, _really_ good as a warrior persona... she would have to tell her that as soon as they were in private. Momoka was confident her sister, Yuri and the rest of the girls would be victorious.

Love and her friends looked on at their partners with happiness and surprise. Not to be outdone they took out their mobiles and, relieved Black and White were keeping their promise, transformed into their battle forms. The quartet was enveloped by a blinding light and soon the girls were clad in their battle uniforms. Following the protocol coursing through their vein, they too introduced to their new friends and two opponents.

"The Pink Heart is the symbol of Love! Freshly-picked fresh, Cure Peach!"

"The Blue Heart is the symbol of Hope! Freshly-gathered fresh, Cure Berry!"

"The Yellow Heart is the symbol of Prayers. Freshly-harvested fresh, Cure Pine!"

"The Scarlet Heart is the Proof of Happiness. Freshly-ripened fresh, Cure Passion!"

Silence blanketed the amphitheater while both groups stared each other down... until Black's stomach demanded for food, letting out a thunderous growl. The numerous group of girls could only stare unbelieving while White blushed in embarrassment.

"Black!"

"I can't help it!" the dark clad girl said defensively. "Their names made me hungry!" she said, pointing at Peach and her team. Said girls blinked before blushing a little, causing the white clad warrior to be even more flustered.

"You just ate and you're hungry again?" White bemoaned, blushing even more. She looked at the other girls and bowed in apology. "I'm so very sorry, I promise, you'll get your chance to get even for that remark during the fight."

The other two teams could only stare in silence at the bizarre turn of events.

Black smiled at Honoka's words and then launched herself after the team of Moonlight, Blossom, Sunshine and Marine. The pigtailed girl reacted immediately, raising a shield to stop the other Cure, but the shield crumbled at the first hit of Black's mighty punch. It at least gave them enough time to take battle positions, Marine and Blossom throwing themselves with everything they had, furiously punching and kicking, but Black didn't seem to have problems dealing with both of them.

"Harder... stronger..." Black murmured, her expression hardening a little. "Use that strength you said you would use!" she roared, thrusting her palms into Blossom's and Marine's chests, launching them away.

Sunshine immediately closed in, not giving Black time to recover, using every technique of martial arts available to her, but she had to admit it, Cure Black's defense was iron-like! Moonlight soon joined the fight, double teaming Black, trying to keep the upper hand Sunshine had gotten. Meanwhile, White was dealing with Peach's team. Unlike her partner, who tanked and blocked everyone of her opponents's attacks, the warrior in white dodged everything with such seemingly simplistic and effortless movements that made the girls rage quietly.

"Come on! Kick my ass like you said you would!" Black shouted and then blocked Blossom's body slam, only to immediately knee Blossom's stomach, sending her flying away.

"Blossom!" Sunshine and Marine shouted.

"Don't take your eyes away from Black!" Moonlight ordered, summoning her _Moon Tact._ She called forth one of her strongest attack, the invocation was flawless... but she immediately knew something went wrong.

Black casually blocked the silver beam away and put some distance between the girls as Sunshine and Marine gave chase. Seeing how her magic suddenly lost its power as it moved towards Black, Moonlight finally understood what the fairies meant by the instinct to protect their Cure partners, to avoid harming each other.

"I'll snap you out of that control, I promise!" Peach shouted as she exchanged punches and kicks with White.

"You'll need something stronger than this," White easily said, deflecting Peach's punch with a casual kick, then shoving the girl away before parrying Berry's surprise attack with another kick.

"You won't take Chiffon-chan!" Pine shouted, coming from the opposite direction and impacting against White's side, but the black haired girl let herself roll with the blow, minimizing the damage.

"Use your magic attacks!" Tart instructed from his hiding spot. "They don't have magic attacks on their own, don't let them get together and you'll be able to win!"

"You heard your guardian! Attack!" White shouted, exchanging blows with Passion.

Both groups decided to call their finishing attacks at the same time. It could be a bad idea now that Black and White knew they were coming, but the duo didn't seem willing to interrupt them. On the contrary, it looked as if they were expecting to simply receive the attacks.

And they did.

The multiple attacks crashed on both girls at the same time, sending them flying to the back of the amphitheater, crashing and destroying several of the concrete rows with their bodies.

After shoving a piece of debris off her, Black stood up, offering White a hand to get up. Both teams could only stare as the only evidence they had attacked the duo was nothing but a few tears and scratches on the pair's uniforms.

The two larger teams took a defensive stance, finally realizing the full extent of their protective instinct. They could feel their attacks and bodies simply _refusing_ to go to their full power, unable to outmatch their opponent's natural resilience.

Black and White finished dusting off their clothes, ready to continue the assault when several familiar attacks were invoked.

"_Fire Strike!"_

"_Sapphire Arrows!"_

"_Lemonade Shining!"_

"_Emerald Saucer!"_

"_Dream Attack!"_

"_Twin Stream Splash!"_

The six attacks rushed after the girls who were now ready to block the attack again. However everybody present suddenly realized in horror that Momoka almost directly behind the pair, trying to run away from her hiding place and where the impact would take place.

It was already too late to stop their attacks.

"_Damn!_" gasped Rouge, horrified watching on along with her partners.

"_Momoka!_"

"_Momo-nee!_"

Black glanced at White and both nodded, making the same decision. In a powerful leap they placed themselves between Momoka and the incoming attacks, knowing there was no time to take the girl and move away. There was only one option.

"Don't move!" White shouted, taking her partner's hand and creating a dome of light around the civilian girl.

"This is so gonna hurt," Black grumbled, earning an amused giggle from her partner.

There was an explosion and large pieces of debris were sent flying in every direction, trashing the place even more. In the crater left by the combined attacks, Black and White were holding an unconscious but unharmed Momoka. The girls themselves had been injured, the blood running down their faces and arms was testimony to that, but they didn't seem to be hurt beyond these cuts. Gently they put the girl down and then moved to the bottom of the amphitheater in two powerful steps.

"We will finish this in private, no public next time, this is just between all of you and us," Black said with a surprisingly severe expression.

"We will meet again soon," White said. "Please excuse us."

Both girls took their donuts and books and left at high speeds, leaving the place in a sepulchral silence. Moonlight and Marine immediately went to check on Momoka, finding her safe but unconscious. The newcomers looked at the scene, not without feeling deeply ashamed of their recklessness.

"W-we are sorry!" Dream cried with deep regret, "Is she okay?"

"Yes, calm down," Moonlight said in a tight but calmer tone, reassuring the newcomers.

"Maybe we should better leave and talk somewhere more private, yes?" Tart interrupted before anything else could be said. "We have so much to talk about."


	5. Chapter 5

**ALL STARS: THE GREAT BATTLE OF THE LIGHT  
><strong> 

**Pretty Cure belongs to Toei Animation.  
>The plot is mine.<br>English version thanks to ****dan heron****. id: 482555**

**Part 5:****  
><strong>**_The Rainbow's Light_**

The numerous group had gathered at Miki's house, luckily completely free for their use. The girl's mother was outside the city visiting some friends of hers and wouldn't be coming back until next monday.

They put Momoka in Miki's room to let her recover, she was remarkably unhurt but it was to be expected she would be unconscious after such extreme impact and the scare that should have suffered in the crossfire. Nozomi, Saki and the rest of the girls didn't stop apologizing, but since there was no harm there was nothing to forgive.

After many, _many_ introductions they finally went down to the main topic: the fight against Black and White.

"The fact they risked themselves to save Momoka-san means that in the deepest part of their hearts they are still themselves," Tsubomi said, clearly remembering the scene in her mind. "Whatever is controlling them hasn't managed to keep them completely under its power."

"I think that may be way they haven't seriously hurt us so far, it's likely they are still under the Seal's effects," Maid said to Love, Tsubomi and their teams, "the one that keep us from mortally wounding each other. Even if they don't hold back during the fights, they hadn't hurt us, so there's a chance of the Seal is still active."

"First of all, we have to take Chiffon to a safe place they can't enter-coco," said the small prince. "I think she may be the only thing they are truly after, they can't enter the Pretty Cure Palace or any of the other kingdoms without knowing where their entry is-coco."

They talked some more about the issue and was decided to let Chiffon under Flora's care in the Cure Rose Garden since Syrup was the only one who could enter that secret place. There they would be completely safe and the girls could focus on fighting without worries. Kurumi offered to go with Syrup to take Chiffon with Flora in case anything happened. It was a simple precaution, but there was never enough precautions even if they knew their opponents lacked flight skills.

Nuts didn't waste time to provide everybody with new and personalized communicators so they all could be in contact at any time. Thanks to their magic, the new devices came with a little video screen and several options to allow communication to one of several girls at the same time. One never knew when a little detail may come handy.

"Passion-chan, I'm afraid we will have to count on you the more at this point. Akarun will be very useful and we will need a way to move quickly when Black and White attack again," Tart said to Setsuna.

"Leave it to me, I'll do my best, I promise," Setsuna replied with complete certainty.

"Well, now that we have a plan, let's eat something! I'm starving!" Nozomi groaned.

"You're always hungry!" Rin muttered grumpily, but then her stomach decided to growl for food too. "Ok, you win. Let's eat something!"

"Miki-tan, let's make dinner like we had been planning to do," Love said, her spirits back to her usual mood. "Bukki, Setsuna, let's buy some more ingredients, we'll have the best dinner for all of our new friends!"

"Let me go with you," Karen immediately offered; it was lucky she always carried money with her. "We're far too many, and three of our team eat enough for four, each. We don't want to abuse your hospitality."

"I'm coming too," Komachi said right away, standing with Karen. "We'll bring plenty of food, the more help the better."

"Okay, let's go!" Love smiled.

"Let me help too!" Itsuki immediately offered and soon the food gathering group left the house.

Those that remained got to talk about many things but the fight; despite the situation they wanted to get to know each other and become friends. Their schools, their families, where they lived, their hobbies, and just about any little detail was the theme of the conversation. It looked like chaos from the outside, but they all understood each other very well.

Yuri excused herself to go checking on Momoka. She knew her friend hadn't been hurt but she couldn't help worry about her.

Momoka slept placidly, very comfortable under the pile of blankets. Yuri sighed in relief and sat down next to her friend. She didn't bother turning on the lights, not wanting to disturb Momoka, but moonlight poured through the open curtains, giving Momoka an otherworldly charm, one Yuri felt victim to. Without thinking she delicately brushed a few stray strands of hair from Momoka's face, trying to not waking her up.

"I'm sorry," she murmured in a quiet voice, "I couldn't protect you from that fight," she let her fingers trace the other girl's cheeks.

Momoka opened her eyes, placing her hand over the hand touching her cheek.

"I'm the one who should be apologizing," she said, making Yuri gasp in surprise. "I knew it was a very dangerous situation and yet I didn't go far away enough. I was reckless and made things harder for all of you, I'm very sorry Yuri."

"Momoka..."

"I'll apologize to the others when we go down," she gave Yuri a sweet smile, still keeping Yuri's hand in her grasp.

"Does anything hurt?" she asked, unable to brush off her worries. "Your head, anything on body?"

"No, nothing hurts, calm down," she laughed, sitting up. "Those girls protected me with their bodies, and the impact was minimum... it felt as if somebody had shoved me down, that's all."

"Are you sure?" the bespectacled girl insisted, taking Momoka by her cheeks.

The model nodded several times, a charming smile on her face. She looked around noticing they were alone, the door was closed and the moon was their only witness. It was just perfect. She grabbed Yuri's arms and then let herself fall back on bed, taking Yuri down with her; the taller girl remained on top with eyes wide open in surprise as a blush crept up to her face.

"Momoka..." Yuri managed to say with great effort, completely bewitched by a pair of eyes of sky blue.

"Just a little," she said in a sweet tone and kissed the girl on top of her.

The kiss started gently, Momoka marking the rhythm while Yuri let herself be lead, as it always happened in those moments of intimacy. The model threaded her fingers through Yuri's hair, and took a hold of the back of her neck, caressing gently and she felt, with particular joy, the goosebumps on her partner's skin in answer to her touch. Yuri couldn't help sighing and Momoka took advantage of that to invade Yuri's mouth with her tongue and deepen the kiss even more.

Yuri gasped, unable to keep from moaning and Momoka hugged her tightly, pulling her closer, caught in the passion of the moment. After a couple minutes Yuri finally managed to get free and sat on the bed, face completely red and sporting an adorably serious and blushing look.

"Momoka, we can't do this in another person's house," she said in a strict tone, fixing her glasses.

"I know, but I like how you get when I do it anyway," the model giggled, earning another blush from her girlfriend. "What we go down? I owe the girls an apology and I need to talk with Miki-chan about some things."

"Okay, but Miki-san went out to buy food for the dinner with some of the girls. I'm not sure if they are back or-."

With a quick and playful movement, Momoka pinned Yuri against the bed. The bespectacled girl blushed again, seeing the smile on the other girl's face.

"Then we can go down once they get back, then I will be able to apologize to everybody at the same time," Momoka said, placing her hands at both sides of Yuri's head.

"Momoka, we can't..." Yuri managed to mumble.

"We won't do anything," her girlfriend smiled and got comfortable on top of the taller girl. "It's just, your body is very comfortable and I need to rest a little bit more. I'm still a bit tired. Your chest is the most comfortable place I know, so..."

"Momoka..."

Without another word, Yuri got comfortable herself and embraced the other girl gently.

"Okay, let's go down once they return."

"Thank you."

In the living room there was a little and everything of chatting, laughs and some mayhem. Mai was going through Erika's sketches, giving her some color tips, and even took the chance to draw Miki in some of the models already sketched. Tsubomi talked animatedly with Rin about flowers after Rin mentioned about her family owning a flower shop. Saki, Nozomi and Urara talked about food once Saki mentioned her family owned a very famous bakery in her district; Nozomi and Urara promised to visit her soon.

Meanwhile the magical beings held their own gathering in another room. There were things the girls didn't need to hear about, they were warriors and they fairies were the ones who needed to make sure the girls could fight without worries. Without wasting any time, Syrup and Milk took little Chiffon and left in direction of the Cure Rose Garden; there was no time to lose now that they knew Black and White were more than capable of creeping on them without notice. It was a small blessing these two Cures couldn't fly too.

Twenty minutes after the food brigade finally arrived and the din of the dinner was spectacular. However, they made sure that many of the girls, particularly Nozomi and her friends, didn't set a foot in the kitchen thanks to Coco's warnings about the quintet's culinary feats. Saki and Mai helped in the kitchen along with Love, Setsuna, Inori and Miki while the rest set the table.

When everything was ready Momoka and Yuri finally came down, the former with a genial and happy look, the later looking down with a crimson blush on her face, almost as if she were cranky about something

"Girls?" The model called for everybody's attention. "I have to apologize for what happened during the fight, it was very reckless of me," she said in a clear voice, bowing at everybody.

"You shouldn't apologize, Momoka-san," Nozomi said with a wide smile. "It was very dangerous, and luckily nothing happened, but thanks to you we found out our partners Black and White aren't completely bad. They risked themselves to save you and they wouldn't have done so if they were completely controlled. If we fight with everything we have, we will be able to get them back!"

"Anyway, just don't put yourself in danger again, Momo-nee!" Erika said with a look of reproach.

"Okay, I won't scare you like that again," the girl said with a smile.

"Momoka-san, could you notice anything about them?" Karen asked. "I know that the situation you found yourself in was a difficult one, but anything you can tell us will help us greatly."

"Well," the model hummed for a moment. "When they protected me, White told me to not move and Black said something about how it was going to hurt them. Then the impact came, I only felt as if I had been shoved around, but before I lost consciousness I could see them. They were resisting with everything they had, and once they saw I was fine they smiled at me and told me to be more careful." This revelation caused everybody to smile too.

It was definitive now, they could get the duo back if they managed to fight their own instinct and fight them at the hundred percent of their skills. During the dinner Milk and Syrup came back from their mission, Chiffon was safe now with Flora. The night went by without further incident, and when it was getting late the girls went back to their homes with a little help from Setsuna and her Akarun. Next day the photo shot would take place as it had been scheduled. They doubted that after the attacks they endured protecting Momoka Black and White would be in fighting condition to try a new attack so soon.

At least they hoped so.

Once they made it back to their district, the first thing Nagisa and Honoka did was fall on their faces in the latter's garden. They undid their transformation, still feeling sore all over. The cases with Mepple and Mipple laid on the ground a few steps away from them, but there was no sign any of the two would react any time soon.

"Everything hurts..." Nagisa murmured, face planted firmly against the grass.

"At least she's safe," Honoka replied in a conciliatory voice.

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea receive the attacks full on..."

"I was thinking about that a while ago. We need to be more careful next time, or it could get dangerous."

Nagisa managed to drag herself to her feet and helped Honoka to stand up; they took Mipple and Mepple and placed them on Honoka's desk. Both made a bee line for the bathroom and took a bath. There was no wound or scratch on their bodies even though they had been bleeding at the moment of the attack; their injuries had already closed on their own, but the bruising and the pain remained. It had been a serious attack and they had been weakened due to the previous attack. Maybe they were being too reckless.

Now in the bedroom Nagisa only managed to put the pants of Honoka's pajamas and laid face down on her partner's bed. Honoka sat on top of Nagisa's hips and started to apply first aid analgesic. The long haired girl was just as sore, but since a while ago she was able to endure the pain very well and her bruised back and limbs weren't much of a problem. The only relief Honoka needed lately was being in touch with Nagisa and both knew it.

"Better?" Honoka asked with a smile, feeling her partner relaxing under her hands.

"Yeah, feels much better. If we take a break tomorrow I'll be as good as new by Monday," Nagisa murmured with a smile firmly in place.

"Tomorrow we have to do our homework, we were outside three days and I don't want to do everything at the last hour like the last time," she said with a strict tone.

"Honoka... you know in what situation we are in," she complained with a frown, "and you still want us to think about the school's homework. That's a part of you I'll never get."

"So says the girl with the drive for food and chocolate," Honoka murmured in her defense, laying down on top of Nagisa's back. "I know what situation we are in, but you're the one who keep saying we shouldn't give up on our civilian life. We have to make the most of the time we still have, Nagisa."

"I know..."

The fell in a comfortable silence, Honoka had her face pressed against Nagisa's hair and her hands held onto her partner's shoulders. The athlete only managed to hold one of Honoka's hands and take it to her lips gently; she still had the taste of medicine on her hand and that didn't have the nicest taste but Nagisa didn't mind. They enjoyed the close contact for a while longer before Honoka stood up, sighing deeply in relief.

"Do you feel better?" Nagisa asked once she felt the weight of her partner lifting off her back to move at her side, both still holding hands.

"Yes, thank you," she smiled. "I'll close the door, it's late and getting chilly," she said right away, standing up and moving to the bedroom's door.

As soon as everything was dark and in silence and both girls were under the covers, Honoka sought after the closeness to her partner. Nagisa received her in her arms and both were happy simply by intertwining their fingers and bumping their foreheads. Little by little their faces got closer and their lips touched with feather light caresses, light and gentle care, almost like the brush of a feather.

"What's next?" Nagisa asked with her eyes closed.

"If we want a real fight we will have to do something more than just provoking them into a fight," Honoka replied and a smile grew on her face. "They think we're going after the important things, right?"

"That's what they said."

"Then go for them and maybe some more," continued the girl genius. "If our friends can't feel motivated enough to fight us with everything, then what we're doing will be for nothing. They have to be ready for when we..."

"Shh, don't say any more," Nagisa interrupted her, holding her tightly. "Don't even think of saying it, I don't want to think about... that."

"Nagisa..."

The dark haired girl hugged Nagisa back and gave her a deep kiss, one the athlete answered without thinking, almost with urgency and desperation. Honoka however took the lead, setting the rhythm of the kiss in every moment, managing to calm down her partner. After a brief pause they exchanged an intense look and they started kissing again, this time a kiss full of desire and frantic caresses.

"Honoka... I love you," the girl managed to say between gasps.

"I love you too, Nagisa," her girlfriend replied with a tender look and a sweet tone.

That was the beginning of a long night, one where they showed the intense and pure love they felt for each other. Even though their mutual love filled their thoughts at the moment, they couldn't help but thinking about the other very special and powerful bond that they had found out about not too long ago. It was that bond that kept them against wall even during that moment of love.

Next day the photo shot took place in several open places around Clover Town. To surprise of the girls, their new friends made a surprise visit to watch the photo shot, cheer on them and just spend some time chatting. When the people from the production saw that Urara Kusagano was friends with Momoka and Miki they didn't even think it twice to offer her an interesting contract: a production outdoors with the young blond singing her latests songs and the quartet Clover dancing in the same stage with Momoka Kurumi acting as the host of the event.

The idea went beyond wonderful for the girls and they didn't doubt giving the yes to the production people.

They would get into details later on while Urara's manager and Momoka's and Miki's company went through the finer details. The session went as usual despite a few disasters caused by the models' friends, but nothing to worry about. Too much. It was their usual behavior according to Miki and Momoka, so their respective productions were already used to them. The last place the photo shot would take place in was the clover field on the city's hills. As soon as they made it to a place with good lighting for sunset, Mai veered away from the group and couldn't fight the desire to sketch the landscape in her sketchpad.

"Saki, look!" Mai said excited, trying to get her partner's attention. Failing to hear any answer from her partner, she turned around and saw Saki being dragged around by Nozomi, talking about something with obvious excitement. The rest of the girls were amusing themselves with the photo shot, a few making quite a ruckus in particular.

Saki was so entertained with Nozomi that she couldn't pay attention to Mai's voice. The artist sighed a little at this but she didn't have time to dwell about it as Erika soon came over to Mai, asking her some tips about colors for some designs she had in mind. The older girl distracted herself with the ever energetic Erika, although she couldn't help stealing glances at her partner from time to time. Erika was fascinated with Mai and her great artistic talent, and enjoyed spending time with her. It didn't matter that Mai was a bit older than Erika, Mai had a talent to get along with energetic people like Saki, so Erika, brimming with energy, got along nicely with her.

On the other hand, with Tsubomi hanging all the time of Itsuki's arm, the young designer didn't feel too comfortable with the closeness she had used to enjoy with Tsubomi. Lately it was a bit uncomfortable stay close to the couple when they decided to get all on in their amorous plans. Not even being in a group of their new friends was enough to keep them from their displays of affection. If there was something that upset Erika, it was feeling like the third wheel.

Meanwhile, the talk that had Saki so entertained started thanks to a simple comment from Nozomi. Something that had been haunting the pink haired girl's mind for the last couple nights.

"Saki-chan, do you remember the night of the festival, when we were talking through the devices?"

"Yeah, I remember," the other girl replied after a few moments. It took her a couple seconds to ignore the desire of remembering the amorous moment she shared with Mai after that chat. "Why the question?"

"When we talked about splitting Cure Black and Cure White during the fight... you weren't really happy with the idea," said the girl, clearly embarrassed but she didn't give Saki time to reply before she continued. "After you explained what could happen if the plan worked... well the truth is, I... I was wondering how strong is the bond you two share. Even Flappy said the bond that tied Honoka and Nagisa was far deeper. I just want to know, I wouldn't like if one of us say something that could upset you. I really wouldn't," she finished, looking at her friends out of the corner of her eye.

Saki stared for a moment, she hadn't thought that part of the chat would still bother Nozomi; if she had to be honest, she had all but forgotten about that detail and she had thought it would be the same for Nozomi and her team. She smiled reassuringly at Nozomi, in part happy that she cared enough to worry about it, and partly embarrassed. Back then she hadn't thought her words would worry her new friends so much.

"Mai and I don't work the same way you girls do," Saki murmured, looking at the rest of the girls. She smiled when she saw Mai talking excitedly with Erika. "You work like a team, each of you know what to do, have your distinctive skills that can compensate for each other," she said in a clearer voice. "Look, for example," she looked up, trying to find a way to explain herself. It didn't take long before she saw Rin and smiled. "You girls work like a soccer team," she said, "Each of you have a specific roll and place according to your skills," she continued talking with the tone she took when she was in front of her softball team. "With everybody doing their part, you can ensure your victory. If one of the players isn't in her place, the others can compensate for her absence. I mean, you girls depend on teamwork and the trust on each other as a team."

Even Nozomi could relate the example to her friends. She was sure even the other two new teams worked in a similar way too. She nodded and let Saki continue her explanation.

"I'm not saying you are less or anything like that," Saki immediately clarified. "I don't doubt for a second you love your friends and you would do anything for them."

"Of course I would, they are my friends!" Nozomi replied with a big smile.

"Good, now," she stopped for a moment to pick up her next words. "Without counting the times we got extra help on our last fights," she continued, smiling as she thought of Michiru and Kaoru, "Mai and I always worked alone, like a tennis duo. We are both together or nothing, we depend on each other one hundred percept to keep one playing. If one of us is missing, or isn't in the right condition to play, the other can't just take over her place in any way, we are like two people in one. Not only that but we have to be in complete harmony and always have warm feelings for each other. Otherwise, if our hearts are somehow apart we just can't properly use our powers, if the thing gets too badly, we wouldn't even be able to transform!"

Nozomi smiled privately, sitting down and hugging her knees. She understand many things now and it wasn't hard to imagine what Saki was going to say next.

"Your enemies managed to split you apart, didn't they?" saddened she asked.

"Yeah, physically and sentimentally, they managed it many times," Saki replied, looking up to the sky. "We also stumbled a few times and we had to learn the hard way that we should be together and be honest about it. We understood better as time went by and we became inseparable on our own will, not because we needed to do it to fight as Pretty Cure, but because we learned to love each other and respect our differences.

"The difference between a combat team, like yours, and a battle couple, like Mai and I... or Cure Black and Cure White... is that the team can fight, think and act on their own without depending completely on anybody else, you can rely on others and the trust of your teamwork to carry you on. Those who fight like a battle couple, we have to be two people with a single heart just by being together, and there's no other option. It has to be like that when you depend so deeply on somebody else."

The pigtailed girl understood better why the effusive and negative reaction to their first strategy. She was no fool, at least not as much as her klutzy personality could make others think. If Saki and Mai had to be a single heart in two bodies in every sense, even with they had such varied and amazing powers, then Nagisa and Honoka, who could only rely on their feet and fists, would have a mutual reliance far deeper and harder to understand by other people.

She finally understood the real reason of why Black and White were such formidable fighters. They weren't just two warriors fighting together, they were a single being in perfect harmony.

She smiled at Saki, letting her know she had understood perfectly what she was talking about. The athlete replied with a far wider smile and in no time they shared a comfortable laugh. It didn't take long before Rin and Urara joined the pair and soon the conversation took a more relaxed tone. Nozomi would tell the other girls about what she had talked about with Saki; she knew her friends still had that little doubt since their late conversation.

Soon Saki noticed the absence of her partner so she excused herself with the girls to go looking for Mai. She didn't need to look long for her or even ask Erika about Mai's whereabouts, she just needed to let herself be guided by her instincts, she only needed to feel for her. She found the beautiful landscape downhill, bathed by the dying sunlight and full of glowing clovers covered by the early dew. She could see Mai's silhouette a few meters in a place with a better view of the landscape. She was drawing, completely immersed in the traces, as was her wont to do. Saki didn't have the heart to interrupted her so she simply sat at her side, completely sure Mai wouldn't even notice until the drawing was finished or Saki didn't something to snap her out of her trance.

She took a peek over Mai's shoulder and saw what promised to be a beautiful drawing of the scene in front of them. She decided to remain quiet and decided to simply lay down and wait for Mai to finish her piece. In the distance she could hear Flappy, Choppy and the rest of the magic beings playing in the clover fields past where anybody could see. Even though Tart was a very well known "mascot" around Clover Town, the rest of the fairies decided to keep their existence a secret for the normal people.

It was around an hour later, maybe a bit more, when Mai gave the final touches to her work before the night could keep her from finishing. After signing the drawing she came back to reality and looked around, finding Saki sleeping placidly next to her, snuggling gently to Mai's hips.

"Saki! I'm sorry!" she gasped, noticing of the time that her partner must have spent there.

The other girl woke up and stretched lazily, letting out a resounding yawn. She scratched the back of her head and looked at Mai with a giant smile.

"I didn't want to interrupt," she said with a little yawn. "I wanted to see the finished drawing," she pointed at the sketchpad. "Ah, is so late already?"

"Yes, a little," Mai said, looking at the first stars on the sky. "They must be finishing with the photo session, right?"

"I think so."

They were about to make their way back to their friends when they saw an intense light descending from the sky. It wasn't moonlight, or a falling star, and certainly it wasn't made by human means. It was a giant rainbow falling over the valley Mai had just drawn. The light was reassuring, nice, warm and very comforting, and instead of putting them on edge or even manage to surprise them, made them feel very calm and quiet, almost as if the phenomenon wasn't so out of the ordinary.

"It's beautiful," Saki murmured.

"If feels... good," Mai said in a subdued voice, her fingers itching to start drawing once again.

"Let's go for Nozomi and the others, they will love this!" said the girl with sudden happiness, missing the fleeting look of gloom on Mai. "Mai?" she asked, not hearing a reply from her partner.

"Saki... I..."

She hadn't even finished speaking when they heard screams in the background, right where the rainbow had landed. Screams of the little magical creatures. Both immediately jumped in alert and raced down the valley. Mai turned on her communicator and called Erika. The image of the young girl showed up in the device almost immediately.

"Mai? Where are you? We're done with the session and we saw this rainbow and-."

"We're going where the rainbow landed! Choppy and the others seem to be in problems!"

"We'll be right there!"

Erika told the others about the news as Miki finished changing from her work clothes, and Momoka decided to go ahead and go to Miki's house. She wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. Only Love's and Nozomi's teams, along with Yuri managed to transform since the others needed of their magical partners to transform and they all rushed to look for them.

Saki and Mai made it first and only managed to see the rainbow breaking into little stars. The light disappeared, leaving only the light of the moon and the lampposts on the road to lit the scene. They saw the little silhouettes on the ground, but there were only far too few. To their relief they found Flappy and Choppy there, laying down next to each other. Not far they saw Milk, Chypre, Coffret and Potpourri. There was no sign of anybody else.

"Flappy!" Saki hugged her little partner tightly. "Flappy, come on, open your eyes, tell me you're okay, please!" little tears were forming around her brown eyes. "Flappy!"

Mai meanwhile was gently caressing her little friend's head, trying to arouse her with encouraging words. She felt like crying too, but she was comforted on the knowledge that the spirit's little body was warm and had no sign of any kind of injury. The rest of the fairies seemed to be in the same condition too, thankfully.

"Choppy, I'm here, wake up, please."

Finally the Spirit of the Birds reacted at the same time than her loved one in Saki's arms. They needed a few seconds to focus and recognize their protegees.

"Flappy, so good to see you're okay!" Saki shouted, hugging her little friend.

"We aren't hurt, don't worry-lapi," the spirit said with a smile and looked around. "It can't be, they took them-lapi!" he whispered.

"Choppy, what happened?" Mai asked, not wanting to let her little partner go.

The other girls arrived with calls for their magical guardians. It had taken a little while longer to arrive since they had missed the exact place where the rainbow had landed. Tsubomi, Erika and Itsuki frantically picked up their fairies, tearing up a little but they found some relief when they noticed they weren't injured. Yuri could only look on in relief. However, Love, Setsuna, Miki and Inori were still anxiously looking around; Tart and Azukina were missing so they started to look around. The other girls looked with horror that the only fairy remaining was Milk.

"Coco, Nuts, Syrup!" Nozomi screamed out loud.

"They aren't here-lapi," said the spirit. "The rainbow's light took them. It fell over everybody, it took us by surprise-lapi."

Rin held Nozomi trying to calm her down while Karen picked up Milk, lovingly holding her close while she finished waking up. Love and her friends were expectantly waiting for an explanation from their friends.

"It was such a warm and comfortable light-chopi, we didn't realize anything was wrong until Coco and the others started to float-chopi," said the bird spirit from her place at Mai's arms.

"Suddenly the light shone brightly and we knew no more-lapi."

Nozomi freed herself from Rin's hold and ran around the area, calling out for her friends, Komachi and Urara soon joining her but they found no trace of any of their friends. Love likewise started to call out for Tart and Azukina, but they had no better luck than her friends. The other girls looked on with sadness, not knowing what to do at that moment. Karen felt Milk coming to and no sooner had the little fairy opened her eyes she tried to jump off Karen's arms, trying to look around.

"Milk, wait!"

"Coco-sama! Nuts-sama! Syrup!" screamed the little one, too stunned to take her human form at the moment, but she was still strong enough to free herself and started running.

"Milk!" the bluenette ran after her but she stopped when she felt something crumbling under her feet.

She looked down and saw a brown piece of paper and made a quick stop to pick it up. It was crumpled and slightly wet after being stopped against the fresh grass, but she managed to unfold the note and read. Her eyes widening as saucers. She took a deep breath and read out loud the note's contents, everybody focusing on Karen, even those that had been looking around.

"_Good evening. We decided to stop wasting our time and do what we should have done from the beginning. Your friends will help us achieve our goal, so we left the ones that served no purpose for us. Now that we have your friend Syrup under our power we only need Infinity, that is to say, the little Chiffon. We already have Cure Flower and her fairy with us-."_

No soon had she said that Tsubomi let out an anguished scream, holding onto Itsuki. Karen swallowed thickly and continued reading.

"_... so now we also have access to the Pretty Cure Castle. Right now we're on our way for Infinity, so you won't make it on time. We will get rid of all of you because it is necessary to fulfill our mission. As for your friends, we hope you said your good byes because you will never see them again. But don't worry about your own fate, you can go to classes and live your life as normal. Once summer break begins, at the end of that week we will find you to end our duel; you need to stop existing for the success of our mission. We'll be waiting for you on the forest on the west area of Wakabadai district, at the feet of the lion-shaped mountain. If you try to find us before, or one of you try to play the lone heroine, we WILL kill you without a second thought._

_Sincerely: Cure Black and Cure White."_

There was only a second of silence.

"We have to rescue them!" Love screamed in despair.

"Gr-grandma!" Tsubomi cried, clinging desperately off Itsuki. "I have to make sure she's okay, they are lying! They must be lying! It's impossible they could have captured her!"

"Tsubomi, come!" Setsuna said right away, taking the smaller girl by the shoulder; she asked Akarun to take her to the greenhouse of Kibougahana.

While the two girls traveled the rest of the group fell little by little in despair. Nozomi and her friends were openly crying, Milk crying her heart out against Karen's chest, blaming herself for being unable to fulfill her mission of protecting her friends. Love was out of it, only managing to remain standing because of Miki and Inori's efforts. Saki and Mai held her partners tightly, ashamed and silently thanking the fact they hadn't been taken. It wasn't long before Setsuna returned, holding a heartbroken Tsubomi. That was all they needed to know Cure Flower and Coupe had been captured by Black and White.

"If they want a fight, we're going to give it to them!" Yuri shouted, getting everybody's attention. "Crying won't solve anything, if Black and White want a fight they will have it! We'll play by their rules, we will beat them and we will recover our friends! We have fought them several times already, we know how they fight, we know their weak points and we outnumber them!" she looked at everybody with strict eyes, speaking with a voice full of power. "We will fight with everything we have! Do you understand!"

Yuri's mighty voice had an immediate effect on her partners. Little by little they recovered, drying their tears and took a deep breath, nodding at the words of their senior. They would fight, they would no longer hold back! Black and White had gone too far this time.


	6. Chapter 6

**ALL STARS: THE GREAT BATTLE OF THE LIGHT  
><strong> 

**Pretty Cure belongs to Toei Animation.  
>The plot is mine.<br>English version thanks to ****dan heron****. id: 482555**

**Part 6:****  
><strong>**_Forever in your arms_**

After returning to Kibougahana with Setsuna's help, Tsubomi's group was still down. They checked the greenhouse once again to find every seemingly in order, save by Coupe's obvious absence. There was no struggle signs, fighting or even a flower out of place at all. In fact, the whole place radiated a calm feeling and the flower shone brighter than usual.

Yuri and Momoka looked around and Itsuki went outside looking for clues while Erika remained behind with her depressed partner.

"Why did they take her?" asked the girl once again, brushing tears away.

"Don't worry, I'll get answers out of those two as soon as I see them again," Erika replied with poorly hidden bravado, but the energetic reply didn't seem to have any effect on Tsubomi.

"What if they hurt her?" Tsubomi suddenly asked, getting more upset. "My grandmother is a Pretty Cure too even if she's no longer active, and they are after all of us, what if...?"

Erika didn't let her say anymore, hugging her tightly against her chest. Tsubomi held onto her friend as if she were a lifeline and wept in silence, while the other girl remained firm.

"She's fine, I'm sure," Erika said, tightening her hug.

"But... how can I tell my parents about this?" Asked the girl, sounding even more upset.

This time her best friend was silent, not knowing how to answer. A few minutes later the group met once again. Their first stop would be Tsubomi's to see if her parents had noticed anything; in the trip there they managed managed to calm down Tsubomi enough so that her parents wouldn't agitate them too much. With Tsubomi's mother pregnant, the news of Kaoruko's disappearance could be dangerous for her.

Once the group arrived at Hanasaki Florist, they found Tsubomi's parents were dining quietly.

"Ah, Tsubomi, welcome," her father greeted her, happy as usual. "Nice to see you too, girls. Want something for dinner? How did you the session go today?"

"Oh, Dad... Grandma," Tsubomi managed to murmur.

"Ah, she went on a trip with some friends, they called her at last minute today, and will return in a couple weeks," said her mother immediately after drinking a little milk. "She called us this afternoon, but as you weren't home, we couldn't tell you about it. She asked us to tell you to take care of the greenhouse while she's away."

The unexpected news took the girls by surprise, they gulped and looked at each other. They declined the invitation to dinner after the bitter surprise a while ago, and didn't have much appetite. The fact Kaoruko called to tell them she would be leaving was more than a little odd. Yuri excused herself to go back to her house, sure her mother would be worried by then.

Momoka returned home first and used to chance to walk a little with Yuri. Not that they were sharing paths for long, but the model felt the need to show her moral support to her partner after finding out everything that had happened. It wasn't hard to guess that Yuri was tense and very, very worried. Erika chose to stay a little longer with Tsubomi in case anything happened, even though at the time the girl had done little more than sitting on the bed.

In the security of her bedroom, Tsubomi didn't hesitate to get depressed again and lean lightly against Itsuki. Erika looked on with a worried gesture, constantly exchanging looks of worry with Itsuki. They did not know what to do for her. The kidnapping of her grandmother wasn't very encouraging, that without even counting the fact that Cure Black and Cure White had said that they would get rid of all of the of Pretty Cure. Retired or not, Kaoruko was still a Pretty Cure.

Erika tried to talk again with Tsubomi, but Itsuki gently stopped her with that candid and sweet smile of hers.

"I'll take care of her. You go and rest," she said in a quiet and gentle tone.

"But..."

"It's okay, I'll take care of things here, you don't need to worry," the tall girl interrupted her, taking her by the shoulders. "You must be very tired too, let me take care of her."

Erika really hated Itsuki's gallant smile, the one that was impossible say not to. She nodded, not all that happy about the development and took Coffret by his head in a non-too kind way. Itsuki offered to accompany her to the door and stop by to ask permission to Tsubomi's parents to stay the night; she called home to let them know if her own parents gave her permission.

As it wasn't the first time she slept over, Tsubomi's parents didn't refuse the petition. They had noticed their daughter looked a bit dazed, but they imagined it had just been a long and tiring day for all of them since they also noticed her friends were a bit exhausted themselves.

"Let's take a bath before sleeping, you'll feel more comfortable," she said with a kind tone but she still didn't get any response. "Tsubomi..."

Nothing. Chypre and Potpourri exchanged a quick look with Tsubomi and they shrugged, not knowing what to do at the moment.

The tall girl let out a sigh, stretched and then made her way to warm the bathtub without saying more. She returned a couple minutes later and took Tsubomi in her arms, catching the other girl by surprise. Itsuki was also worried about her grandmother's fate, but if she fell in depression too, Tsubomi wouldn't have anybody to hold onto. Somebody had to be strong for both of them, and since she and Tsubomi were together, Itsuki took seriously her role as a couple to provide support and encouragement to her partner.

"Itsuki, let me down please, it's embarrassing!" begged the blushing girl, struggling to break free and forgetting, even if for a second, her sadness.

"Why embarrassing?" asked the other with a smile. "Nobody is looking."

"But..."

"No 'buts', we're going to take a shower, you'll let me borrow something to sleep, and we will go to bed and we will sleep well today," she said already in the bathroom and undressing her partner, purposely ignoring the other girl's full body blush. "Kaoruko-san and the rest of the magical creatures are okay, I'm completely sure about it. So, cheer up, we have to put everything on our fight against Black and White and get our friends back, understood?"

"Itsuki..."

Tsubomi was unable to say any more while Itsuki took her clothes and then started to wash her hair and back.

"Do you really think they are okay?" asked the girl after letting out a furtive sigh at the feeling of Itsuki's arms circling around her waist and the blond's lips pressed against her shoulder.

"I'm completely sure, if anything had happened to them, then your parents wouldn't have gotten that call so that they weren't worrying. You'll see Kaoruko-san again once we finish this fight, okay?"

The smaller girl nodded many times, letting her tears be washed away when Itsuki rinsed her hair. She felt her drive back thank to these words and she knew only one way to thank her for everything Itsuki did for her. She turned around a little and gave her a little kiss on her lips. Her partner smiled in the kiss and hugged her again before they finished tidying up to go to sleep at least.

Meanwhile, in another district, the team split in two after a quick and conspiratorial look between Karen and Rin.

Rin had crashed at Nozomi's along with Urara, who was just as down as the pinkette. The redhead did thousand and one things trying to cheer them both; Rin had taken the responsibility of taking of both girls, assured Karen would do the same with Komachi and Kurumi, who had remained back at Karen's place.

Luckily, Karen had a gift with her words that managed to get people back on her feet, Komachi left with a feeling of calm in her chest, but Kurumi was still deeply affected due to her presence when that light hit them and inability to do anything to help her friends. Kurumi decided to stay the rest of the week until the fight with Karen; she was unable to sleep at Natts House without feeling an overwhelming sorrow. There was only one other place where she could feel safe and calm and that place was next to Karen. She couldn't, and normally she wouldn't like to, stay with Nozomi when she was also hurting because of Coco's absence.

After getting Kurumi to eat something -bribing her with many imported chocolates for desert-, they cleaned themselves and went to sleep. Kurumi stayed in the guest's room next to Karen's. It was around eleven and the owner of that huge house still couldn't conciliate any sleep, despite their exhausting, rough day. She sighed. She always had second thoughts about her own advice once she was alone, especially in tense and delicate times like this one. She was very worried, yes, but if even Nozomi was depressed then somebody else in the team had to take up the slack and become that strong pillar everybody else could hold onto.

She had to be strong. She had to.

She heard her door cracking open and turned to see Kurumi shyly peering into the room, probably wondering if she hadn't managed to sleep yet. The taller girl smiled and pulled away the covers, inviting the other girl to sleep at her side, not that Kurumi had to be asked at all. The smaller girl got in, closed the door and apologized in a little voice before curling up next to her partner.

"Did I wake you up?" asked Kurumi in a quiet tone.

"Don't worry, I wasn't sleeping," Karen replied with a smile, laying on her side so she could face her guest.

Kurumi said no more and transformed into Milk, clinging to Karen's chest looking for comfort. The girl smiled and hugged the little one in a sweet and protective way. They spent a few moments in silence, Karen gently caressing Milk's head and whispering comforting words, telling her everything would be okay, they would rescue the boys and everybody else from Black and White.

"Can I sleep with you-miru?" the little one asked, a little embarrassed.

"Of course," Karen smiled but she stopped, thinking about something to distract herself from her own sorrow. "By the way, you didn't have to transform, did you?" she giggled a little. "It's just a hug."

The fairy in question gulped and buried her face deeper against her partner's camisole.

"I just did-miru," replied Milk with a reproachful tone. "Does it bother you-miru?"

"Not at all, I just noticed that every time you hug me, you transform first," Karen pointed out with an amused smile. "I'd like you to huge me once in your human form. If you don't mind, of course."

Milk reddened even further and felt her face burning up so much she had to pull a little away from Karen so her host wouldn't notice. She didn't realize that it was already too late and her friend had an even more entertained smile on her lips. The little fairy shook her head and finally, after gathering all her courage, changed to her human form.

"Happy?" asked Kurumi, now unable to move any further away from Karen, completely embarrassed and blushing a bright red color.

"I think I should be asking that," the other girl replied with a huge smile Kurumi had no problem imagining. "Let's sleep, okay? Tomorrow I'll see what we can do at the school about Coco and Syrup. I'll take of everything, Kurumi. We will rescue them, I swear."

"Karen..."

"Good night."

Kurumi couldn't say anything to that so Karen gave her a little kiss to her forehead and hugged her tightly, in a way that left Kurumi's nose touching Karen's neck. _Karen smelled so nice_. Unlike her host, who managed to sleep with help of their tight and comfortable hug, Kurumi could not focus on her weariness and need for sleep thanks to the closeness to her friend and that fresh aroma of lavender that clung to her skin, hair and clothes.

For everybody's surprise, the next day, at the school, they found out Shiro had somehow let the school know he would take a few weeks off to go on a trip along with the professor Kokoda Koji. That was too strange and they just let thing go on their own. They followed Yuri's advice to play it by the rules and hope the captives were still well and sound.

Next day, in a different district, Saki and Mai walked, hand in hand, to their classes. They were still a little under the weather, a little relieved if they were honest, but still worried. They kept on thanking the fact Black and White didn't take their little fellow spirits. Without them, they couldn't even transform to fight.

"Wait a moment..." Mai murmured, stopping cold on her tracks, forcing Saki to stop too.

"Mai, what is it?" confused, her partner asked.

The artist reassumed her pace, gently tugging Saki's hand to get her to follow. The athlete was still a little perplexed, and judging by the serious look on Mai's face she was sure her partner was thinking of something very important, so she complied without question. As she noticed the other girl looking in her direction she paid her full attention.

"Black and White left only the magical beings that helps us transform," Mai murmured, still deep in her thoughts.

"Eh?" Saki blinked a couple times before her eyes lit in realization. "That's right!"

"It could be a coincidence, but if they really want to beat their rivals, they should have weakened us and leave us without any chance to defend ourselves," Mai supposed, trying to step in her opponent's shoes.

The pendants with Flappy and Choppy shook a little before the couple of spirits poked their heads out. It was lucky there wasn't that many students on the road towards the school at the moment. Regardless, the spirits made sure to talk in a low voice.

"Chypre, Coffret and Potpourri help Blossom, Marine and Sunshine to transform-lapi," Flappy said immediately. "You're right, they left only those who need to be present to help you girls transform. And Milk too cans fight-lapi."

"But, if that's the case, wouldn't you hold more power, since you hold our power to transform?" asked Mai, very confused with the idea.

"Not necessarily-chopi. Although, it is confusing... Tart and his fiancé don't have any power, but Chiffon does. Coupe-sama is a legendary fairy and has many skills and powers, but Cure Flower no longer can transform-chopi. Coco and Nuts are princes of their kingdom, Nuts is their messenger and the three have enough power thanks to their power to take Human forms and help the girls like that-chopi."

"Then, it could be just a coincidence," Saki murmured.

"Anyway, it's a relief that everybody can still fight-lapi."

Saki and Mai sighed. The fate of the captives was still uncertain. They kept on thanking in silence the fact their friends were still with them and had the chance to keep on fighting. Just like their partners they just wanted to get the boys and Tsubomi's grandmother back as soon as possible.

Familiar laughs and voices made them pull away from their thoughts and put on a cheerful face, even if they couldn't quite pull it off. Kenta and the girls, Michiru and Kaoru included, caught up with them in no time. Some bad jokes from Kenta's side were enough to make Saki and Mai forget, just a little, their current situation and all these thoughts that kept on tormenting them.

It was lunch time in Yotsuba's middle school and Love couldn't muster the appetite nor the mood to get excited for the food her mother had made for her. At her side, Setsuna looked on not knowing what to say. Last night she had tried to go to the Cure Rose Garden and found it blocked too, but she wasn't sure if it was because the site was a secret place or if an external power had closed it like it had happened to the Garden of Light. She could feel the same barrier of light, so she wasn't completely sure what it could be.

A sigh from Love made her snap out of her thoughts and she sends a quick look at the blond girl. The bentou remained opened and untouched. Setsuna contemplated the scene for a moment before reaching over and stealing a piece of meat, making the other girl gasp.

"Setsuna?"

"If you do not want it, I will eat it then," she said calmly, "Mother tires herself cooking for us, and it would be a shame if you don't eat it," she continued and stole a bigger piece this time.

"Ah- that's mine!" Love exclaimed and rescued the piece of fried meat from her adopted sister's lips.

"Well, if you don't eat it soon, lunch break will be over and mother will get upset if she sees the lunchbox full."

Love swallowed the morsel and looked at Setsuna out the corner of her eye, Setsuna returned the look along with a smile. Finally Love ate all the food with her usual voracity. Setsuna had finished with her share for a while now and was just waiting. When both were done they fell in a comfortable silence, looking up at the sky.

"Hey, Setsuna," Love called her in a quiet tone. "Do you think Chiffon, Tart and Azukina are okay?"

"Yes," was the simple reply accompanied by a smile.

"Why?"

"If anything had happened to Chiffon, then the consequences would have been felt since last night," she calmly explained. "You know she's a fairy with a great power so anything that could have happened to her would have great consequences in this and maybe other worlds."

That made a lot of sense now that Love stopped to think about it. Maybe that was why Setsuna felt so calm about the whole thing. She was sure the guys were okay, so Love would cling to the hope behind that idea and wait for the moment to fight again. If things started to get crazy in the city or other magic kingdoms, then they would know for sure something had happened to Chiffon. While nothing happened, everything would be fine.

She needed to keep up her spirits up as was her wont to do.

"We're going to get our friends back, aren't we?" Love asked without taking her eyes from the sky.

"I am sure. But we won't be able to do it on our own, we need to fight all together," Setsuna replied with a little smile.

Love could finally feel her happiness returning and she hugged Setsuna tightly, planting playful kisses on the other girl's cheek. She draped an arm around Setsuna's neck and raised her free arm to the sky.

"We'll do it! We'll beat them!" Love exclaimed.

Setsuna nodded and then pinched Love's cheek, freeing herself from the hold.

"The bell is about to ring, let's go back to the classroom," said Setsuna calmly.

"Eh? I don't wanna, we still have a few minutes, I want to spend them with you," Love reproached her, holding her in her arms.

"Loser cleans the winner's room," smiled the other girl.

"Deal!"

They made it back to the classroom, only to be scowled by a few teachers for running in the halls. At least Love wasn't so lifeless anymore, and that was what mattered in the end.

After class, Miki made her way back home the long way, hoping the walk could help her calm down her thoughts. She went through messages on her cellphone and couldn't help smiling seeing several messages from Momoka cheering on for her, including a couple telling her that the magazine people loved the photos and the next publication would be a sure success. As she walked she bumped on Inori, who was pretty down herself.

"Hey," was the model's simple greeting.

"Hello, Miki-chan," replied the girl with her usual sweet smile, even if had dimmed a little.

"You should cheer up," she said, putting a hand over her shoulder. "If we fight like usual, then we will get them back. Worrying will get us nothing, right?"

"Miki-chan..." Inori whispered, a little surprised at her friend's words.

"We have to take care of this soon, I don't plan to work with Kurumi Momoka in such dangerous conditions. And remember, we still have to interrogate Love about _'that'.._." she immediately smiled conspiratorially.

Inori started to smile a little in relief and soon her smile turned more sincere and natural.

"You're right, we have to finish with this fight as soon as possible. We also have to get Nagisa-san and Honoka-san back, and all of our friends," she said with a recovered expression.

"That's the spirit!"

"Aaand I really want to interrogate Love-chan, although I think we will get more information and juicy details if we go first with Setsuna-chan."

Both girls shared a happy laugh and kept on walking back home. They would achieve nothing with their worry, it was better if they kept their hope up and the energies to fight with everything they had.

It was early afternoon in Kibougahana and Yuri was making her way to the greenhouse. Momoka was busy at the agency that week so she would get to see her later, Yuri had her homework ready and one of these days they would get together later that week to help her with the school work. That said, she still had her fair share of amorous messages the model kept sending to her cellphone.

Yuri didn't know if she should be thankful of paranoid about the week Black and White had given them before the fight.

She was restless, not only because of Kaoruko's and the fairies' fate, but for the whole situation in general. She wanted to do some private investigation on her own, but before making her move she needed some intel about her enemies. From what she had managed to puzzle out everything started the day of the festival held in Nozomi and her group's school, so if somebody could give her a clue about how to investigate about Misumi Nagisa and Yukishiro Honoka, she needed to contact Karen.

She met Tsubomi, Erika and Itsuki in the greenhouse, but she didn't let them in her plan. It was possible she was playing a little the role of the lone hero, but she felt it was her duty as the senior member to provide every bit of security to her younger partners. While they were doing some maintenance around the greenhouse, Yuri excused herself to leave earlier and contact Karen.

"Ah, Yuri-san!" came the other girl's voice through the magical device. "What's the matter?"

"Could you give me any info you have on Black and White?" she paused for a moment before correcting herself. "That is to say, their civilian identities."

"I was just looking into that myself. I managed to come with some copies of the festival documents and I think I have some solid information, but..." Karen's tone suddenly became cautions, "What are you planning to do, Yuri-san?"

"Some investigation on my own. I won't looking for problems or anything like that, I just want to know more about our enemy. Don't tell the others, if they follow me, or a larger group shows up, everything could turn dangerous."

"Understood."

After a moment Yuri had enough information to make her move. Both girls were in freshmen in the female section of Verone's High school. Misumi Nagisa was an official member of the Lacrosse team and helped several other sport clubs. Yukishiro Honoka was member of the Science club, a true genius in several areas, sciences in specific. Both were awfully popular too.

Next day, once classes were over she told her friends she had field homework and made her way straight to Wakabadai, Black's and White's district. It took her only an hour to reach and found a very busy and, if she had to admit it, beautiful city. She had the address of Verone and was ready to check the place when her stomach demanded to be fed. She was embarrassed with herself, but she was starving and the aroma of takoyaki in the area wasn't helping.

She surrendered to the basic need and asked for an order. Luckily there were free tables so she took seat while she waited. She noticed there were a few students with a copper colored uniform sitting on the next table, according to Karen's descriptions that was Verone's uniform.

"Sorry for the wait, here's your order!" said a clear and happy voice. It was a slim and blond girl with green eyes. "Enjoy."

"Thank you very much," Yuri replied with a smile.

A mature voice came from the truck; it belonged to a brown haired girl who handed the blond girl a pair of orders and asked her to take it to the pair from Verone.

"Thanks, Kujo-san," said one of the girls, the tall one with the ponytails.

"By the way, by the way, by the way," said her friend, a small girl with short hair. "Kujo-san, if you see Nagisa, tell her she forgot her notebook," she handed said book.

"Ah, thank you! I'll give it to her when she stops by. Honoka-san took her to the library to study a little, so they will probably made a stop before we close."

"It's all Nagisa's fault for saying she was happy with seventy points in her test!" shouted the brown haired woman from within the van.

While the three girls giggled about a private joke, Yuri remained quiet listening to everything that was being said. These were Black's and White's friends, and by the familiar and relaxed way they were talking about them, they hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary about them. She waited a little longer, waiting for the best moment to interrupt their chat and find some more.

"But her grades have improved since she met her, so Honoka can torture her with study whenever she wants," the girl with the ponytails said, very amused.

"Sure, sure, sure, having a partner like Yukishiro-san, the Queen of Knowledge, has its disadvantages and now Nagisa has to deal with it," laughed the short haired girl. "As long as she passes and Nagisa remains in the team, I won't complain."

Yuri took a deep breath.

"Yukishiro-san?" she mused out loud, interrupting the conversation. "I heard about her in a festival that took place last week, her club won the first place in the Science contest."

The owner of the restaurant and the three other girls stared for a moment. Yuri suddenly felt a far more intense look from the blond girl but when their eyes met, the blond girl quickly blushed in embarrassment and looked down. Yuri could feel a very peculiar aura from that girl.

"That's right, that's right, that's right!" the short haired girl replied, pretty excited. "Yukishiro-san is the number one when it comes about science!"

"I'm also part of my high school's science club, but I couldn't attend the festival myself," she lied seamlessly. "When I heard about her project," she thanked Karen's detailed information, "I was very interested and wanted to find more about it."

"There is no activity in the club today, but you can stop by tomorrow if you want to. Out science club is very friendly to the visitors," replied the taller girl.

"I would love to," Yuri smiled.

"Kujo-san, tell Yukishiro-san to expect visits tomorrow," said the girl with the ponytails.

"Never mind, here she comes!" shouted the short haired girl. "Yukishiro-san!"

Yuri felt a chill crawling her skin, like a bucket of icy water dumped on her. The pair of girls smiled, the blond girl looked a little nervous, and the owner of the cafe just lazily looked on.

"Ah, Honoka, did she convince you to eat something?" asked Akane with a wide smile.

"To tell the truth, I was a little hungry and we both voted for takoyaki, but I lost the rock-paper-scissor so I got to pick up the food," Honoka replied with a sweet tone.

"Six order coming!" Akane exclaimed. "But since Nagisa has passed her appetite to you, let's make that eight!"

"Yukishiro-san, you have a visitor, this girl wants to know more about your science project from last week," said the girl with the ponytails.

Yuri gathered every ounce of courage and she looked at Honoka. The other girl smiled calmly at her.

"Yukishiro Honoka at your service," the black haired girl introduced herself with a kind smile.

"Ah- Tsukikage Yuri," she replied immediately.

"Hikari-san, Nagisa asked me for some of those chocolate and strawberry drinks," she told the blond girl, "she specifically asked that you made them, she loves how you do it."

"Okay, coming right away!"

"Can we chat on the way, Tsukikage-san?" asked Honoka with a seemingly calm tone, but to Yuri it was an arctic chill.

"Of course."

A few minutes later Honoka and Yuri left the local. The former carrying the takeout, the latter not knowing what to say. Yukishiro's Honoka's presence was strange, overwhelming and a little heavy. She hadn't noticed before, not having a chance to be close to the other girl and feel the aura.

"You are not playing the role of the lone hero, are you Cure Moonlight?" Honoka asked with a smile.

"No, although I hadn't expect to find any of you so soon."

"Ah, a private investigation then?" she asked but she continued before Yuri could reply. "That's fair I suppose. Although, with your skill and power, you could easily finish me right now," she proposed with a smile.

Yuri stopped and stared. Honoka was giving her a smile that bordered on the macabre, and her aura felt even more potent by the moment. The taller girl clenched her fist and faced the overwhelming presence head on, recovering her conviction.

"I can hear plenty of confidence in your words," Yuri said with a hardened and cold look on her face.

"That's because I'm confident. I can't transform without Nagisa, and it would be very easy for you to transform and finish me off. You could even go after Nagisa later and then you could say good bye to all your problems."

"Not until we know what happened to Kaoruko-san and the rest of the magical beings."

"So, that's what you came for... I can't give you all the details, but..." she reached into her pocket and pulled out a little red handkerchief, "Maybe this will be of some consolation for Cure Dream's team. It was the only thing we could save..."

Yuri's eyes opened wide like saucers when she remembered the handkerchief belonged to Syrup, the messenger from Palmier Kingdom.

"If anything happened to Kaoruko-san, I'll-!" Yuri shouted, throwing a punch right at Honoka's face.

The other girl smiled after a moment of silence, seeing the fist stopping a couple millimeters off her face.

"Do it," Honoka egged her. "Don't lose your chance, do it!"

"You're not worthy. Not now. We will wait until the agreed time and we will fight then, I'll reserve this fist for you, Cure White."

"I'll be eagerly waiting, Cure Moonlight. As for Cure Flower and Infinity, they will be the last ones. Once we finish you all, they will be the last ones to follow you to the other world. I'm sorry about the magical creatures, but according to the plans, they had to die first," Honoka informed with complete tranquility.

Yuri clenched her first and was very tempted to resort to violence, transform and finish her off, but her instinct stopped her. She felt unable to raise her hand against Honoka again. Honoka smiled when she noticed her trembling in impotence.

"I washed the blood off this morning, it was a messy job," she whispered, and this time Yuri did strike her, a loud and strong blow that drew blood from Honoka's mouth. However, the smaller girl simply took a couple steps back, smiling at the sight of the red droplets falling to the ground.

"You two are the worst!" Yuri shouted in anger she pulled out her Heart Seed. "Give me one reason why I should kill you right now!"

"Do it. Do it while you can, I know you can hit harder than that."

The taller girl started to chant her transformation phrase but she stopped as she felt a new energy nearby. She looked down the street and saw Misumi Nagisa approaching at a slow pace. Yuri put some distance between them while Honoka brushed the blood off her lips with her hand.

"A lone hero"? Nagisa asked once she was close. "And starting a fight, I see. I think we will have to do something about you, Cure Moonlight."

"She didn't do anything, Nagisa," Honoka smiled, reaching out bloodied fingers to brush against Yuri's cheek. "Let the darkness shroud your Pretty Cure instincts, fight with everything, Cure Moonlight," Honoka whispered, looking at Yuri in the eyes.

"You're insane," the other girl murmured, wiping her cheek immediately. "We agreed to follow your rules and that's what we will do. We will mate at the place on the note. I won't give you the pleasure of a fight right now."

"Whatever, suit yourself," Nagisa said, taking the bag with the takoyaki. "Tell your friends that they can still save Cure Flower and Chiffon. If you can beat us, of course."

"We will, I promise."

Yuri left the area in unsteady steps, and Nagisa and Honoka went back to the latter's house to continue studying as if nothing had happened. Nagisa only made a point of checking Honoka's cheek and let her take her hand so their physical contact could heal her. They heard hurried steps behind them and they turned around to see Hikari catching up with them, exhausted by the race. They smiled at her as soon as she was in front of them.

"Hikari, what's wrong"?

"She was one of them, wasn't she?" asked the blond.

"Yes, Cure Moonlight," Honoka replied calmly.

"Nagisa-san, Honoka-san, is it really okay to go so far for this?" she insisted with a sorrowful look.

"Calm down, Hikari, everything will turn out okay," Nagisa replied, gently patting Hikari on the head. "We just have to make sure they hate us so this can work."

"But..."

"Don't worry, Hikari-san, we know what we are doing."

"The blond girl said no more and just nodded, she said her good byes and made her way back to the Takoyaki restaurant. Nagisa and Honoka continued on their way back home.

"Did it hurt?" Nagisa asked, pocking Honoka on the cheek.

"Not as much as when I hit myself with your lacrosse net. That did hurt."

Both girls shared an amused laugh and continued with total tranquility.

Yuri made her way into the train that would take her back home, sank on a seat and hide her face in her hands. She was furious, sad and feeling an overwhelming impotency.

How was she going to tell the girls that all the magical creatures but Chiffon were all dead?


	7. Chapter 7

**ALL****STARS:****THE****GREAT****BATTLE****OF****THE****LIGHT  
><strong> 

**Pretty****Cure****belongs****to****Toei****Animation.  
>The<strong>**plot****is****mine.  
>English<strong>**version****thanks****to****dan********heron****.****id:****482555**

**Part****7:****  
><strong>**_Prelude_********_to_********_the_********_Battle_**

It was past six when Yuri finally made it back to her district. She was mentally exhausted after such intense moment and not even the familiar sight of home made her feel any better. There were many things that didn't seem to fit in that dangerous situation but she couldn't focus on them at the moment, the news of the death of the magical beings... it was something she just couldn't accept.

She didn't believe those words and not even the handkerchief in her hands was enough to convince her. But it was the Messenger's handkerchief. She considered the possibility of deception, but the little piece of fabric was soaked in a very unique essence that was easy to distinguish for a Pretty Cure. Without wanting or trying, the memory of Cologne came to her mind and she felt her chest heavier with the anguish.

She didn't have the heart to tell the girls that their magical partners were no longer alive with the exception of Chiffon. She was sure Karen wouldn't take long to contact her and ask about any information she had managed to gather. The truth was that she had gotten nothing but bad news. All the girls held to the hope of rescuing their friends, that was the one thing keeping them under control.

The news would cause shock with unforeseeable results and she didn't know if they would be able to remain under control. In fact, she feared that the anger would take control over them and they would go after their opponents without a second thought. Although, that seemed to be just what Black and White were after, seeing how Yukishiro Honoka had been able to taunt her to the point where she had been about to transform was a clear sign of that. She didn't know if she should be thankful or not for Misumi Nagisa showing up when she did, bringing that source of energy to...

"Wait a moment..."

There was something that she had almost overlooked completely. The presence and energy of Honoka had upset her, put her on edge and made her lose control to the point of transforming and attacking without considering the consequences. But when Nagisa showed up with her presence and energy, one so different but just as powerful as that of her battle partner, Yuri noticed that her initial anger had diminished to the point she could think properly and avoid fighting them both on her own.

Had it not been because of that, she was sure they would have easily defeated her. She was thankful she hadn't tested the warning of the lone heroine against her tragic luck.

"I have to calm down, I need to think this some more," she muttered to herself while she kept on walking aimlessly.

Lifting her eyes, just a few steps ahead of her, she noticed the facade of the _Fairy__Drop_. She was surprised for a moment and immediately turned around. If she wanted to avoid getting the girls into a panic, especially with Tsubomi and her grandmother, she had to think how to break the news on them. She hadn't managed to take five steps towards her house when she bumped against Momoka.

"Yuri!" the model exclaimed in relieved happiness and captured the taller girl in a hug.

"Momoka..."

Feeling the desperate hug and the broken whispers Yuri replied with to the gesture, Momoka guessed immediately something had gone wrong, something related to the business with Black and White. She sighed and pulled away just enough to look at Yuri in the eye. The bespectacled girl looked back at her with cold and seemingly emotionless eyes, but for Momoka Yuri was an open book with bold letters.

"Do you wanna talk?" she asked her without releasing her from the hug.

"It's okay, don't worry about it," she said with a supposedly neutral tone that couldn't have fooled anybody, but it all crumbled in front of the model's little smile. "You must be tired and you probably need some rest to... recover...," her voice finally betrayed her, falling into silence.

Seeing the playful look and that expression that said "I'm not believing a single word", Yuri sighed and surrendered. She returned a gentle and sad smile and accepted the quiet invitation to go to Momoka's house. The shop was already closed, but surprisingly nobody of the family was there. Erika surely was still with Tsubomi and Itsuki, and their parents probably had gone out to town; the dinner ready to be warmed up in the microwave was proof enough of that.

Momoka prepared the food, served some tea and then took Yuri to her bedroom. Momoka ate in silence, hope to give Yuri time to calm down a little; she knew in cases like this she had to let Yuri move at her own pace and let her start the conversation. The bespectacled girl had barely taken a few sips to her tea and she let the silence stretch for several long minutes before she broke the quietude.

"I went to the district of Cure Black and Cure White," Yuri murmured, looking her reflection on the teacup.

Momoka had finished eating by the time her girlfriend finally decided to talk, luckily as she knew she would have choked in her own food at the surprise. Momoka looked expectantly at Yuri, urging her to continue.

"We didn't fight, bu-."

The sudden sound from one of Yuri's pockets made both girls start in surprise. The bespectacled girl paled immediately. It was probably Karen waiting for news of her mission. She swallowed and looked at Momoka. The silent request of moral support was more than clear. The model sat next to her partner while Yuri took out her communicator and, after taking a deep breath, turned it on.

"Yuri-san!" Karen exclaimed once she appeared on the screen, relieved to see her safe and sound. "I wasn't sure to call you before, but the girls forced me to do it and..."

"The girls?" asked Yuri, feeling her blood draining to her feet.

"Yes, I'm very sorry, I know your mission to Wakabadai was a secret, but they were eavesdropping and now they want to know what happened."

Yuri took one of Momoka's hands and gave her a little squeeze, inhaling deeply.

"Nothing interesting," Yuri said immediately, putting on a neutral and serious face. "I could only discover that Black and White are as popular as the rumors paint them to be, and their close friendships seem to treat them as if nothing were out of the ordinary. Nobody has noticed any odd behavior about them. It seem they are kinder to these close friendships than with us."

"That could be proof that they are being controlled," Komachi guessed. "It could be controlling them at times, it is a possibility..."

"It will be better if we don't go to their district again. Luckily I didn't find them as they were busy with their club's activities, it could have been dangerous if they had seen me," Yuri interrupted her. "We don't want anybody else going there," saying this she tightened her grip on Momoka's hand, something the other girl made of point of pretending to not notice and remain quiet. "Let's continue following their game for a litlte while longer. What we can do is find the location of the place for the fight."

"You're right, Yuri-san, it will be better to avoid any step in false," Karen replied with a smile. "I'll research the location and then I'll contact Setsuna-san so we can scout the place."

"That's a good idea," Yuri murmured, feeling her conviction crumbling with each minute that went by.

"Then we can rescue the guys and return Black and White to normal!" Nozomi exclaimed with enthusiasm. "It's decided!"

Yuri was feeling ready to break down when Momoka came to her rescue, taking the communicator and gracing the girls with her loveliest smile.

"You have to win this fight, girls. It seems our agency is taking care of the contracts and we will be making a concert with Urara-chan and Miki-chan and the rest of the girls," she said jovially.

"That's great!" said Urara in happiness.

"Well, we have to say goodbye for now, we have a ton of homework to do and Yuri is kind enough to help me with that," the model hummed, "G'night, girls."

"Bye!" the girls said their farewells and Yuri immediately turned off the communicator.

Momoka could only watch as Yuri paled and collapsed to the floor while furtive and silent tears flowed down her cheeks. Alarmed she immediately knelt down and hugged Yuri tightly. In that moment Yuri didn't need to be interrogated, she needed some comfort. The model closed her eyes and gently caressed Yuri's back.

Yuri cried in silence for a while, unable to say a single workd about what Yukishiro Honoka had told her. She couldn't shatter the girls' hopes, she knew that news like that would be enough to crush the moral of her younger partners. She had gone through this once already and she didn't want the other girls having to go through the same, not yet, not now. She knew they would inevitably find out the truth about what had happened, but she still didn't want to be the bringer of that pain.

"Yuri..."

"I lied, I found them, and they told me something horrible..." Yuri whispered loud enough for Momoka to hear. "I don't want to tell them yet, I don't want them to live through that pain, I don't want crush their hopes and fill their hearts with that pain... I don't want to..."

Momoka couldn't understand what Yuri was trying to say, at least not at first. She remained in silence while Yuri clung desperately to Momoka, almost begging to be allowed some peace. Momoka replayed her girlfriend's words in her mind trying to puzzle what Yuri was trying to say. If Black and White had done something horrible, something even worst than taken some of the magical beings, then it could...

Her eyes opened wide like saucers when the posibility of that terrible thing crossed her mind.

"Are they...?" she couldn't even finish the question when Yuri nodded mutely between bitter tears. "Impossible..."

They remained quiet for a long time. Yuri had calmed down enough thanks to Momoka's caresses. Momoka asked no more and Yuri said no more either. The model knew it must have been very painful for her; the only thing she could do for Yuri was stay at her say and give her her strength. She sometimes regretted she couldn't do more, even if they were happy with her acting as their secret keeper.

"Can we stay like this a little longer?" Yuri asked in a subdued voice.

"As long as you want to," Momoka replied kindly. "That's why I'm here. I may not fight like my sister or the other girls, but I can at least give help you like this."

"Having you at my side is more than enough," Yuri whispered, moving closer to her and enjoying the warmth and the gentle perfume of her girlfriend. "You can't be there when the fight breaks out again, but thinking about you will be enough to give me strengths for the battle... especially when the girls have to find out the truth."

"I understand."

Without any other word, Momoka embraced her and showered Yuri with little kisses until she had to leave to her home, deep into the night.

- Meanwhile, in the bakery of the Hyuuga family-

Michiru and Kaoru were helping Saki to close the shop. As usual, the bakery was filled to the brim with costumers, but that didn't keep the twins from noticing the strange moods on her friends and battle partners. They still were in the dark about what had happened the last weekend.

They hadn't had the chance to have a good talk during school hours to get an idea of what had happened to the couple. Even though Kaoru was part of the Art club, she decided to stay back that weekend to help in the bakery along with Michiru to fill in Saki's and Mai's absence during those days.

It had been quite a surprise to see them so depressed the next morning and very tightlipped during class, not to mention of how gloomy and miserable they got. The sisters just had to know what had happened.

As soon as they finished closing the twins took the girls and almost literally dragged them towards the Great Sky Tree. Saki and Mai knew they had to come clean whether they wanted to or not, the twins had the right to know. Flappy and Choppy were equally worried and had barely poked out their heads out of their cases. Moop and Foop, who had been living for quite a while with Michiru and Kaoru, were worried too for the girls and their friends.

"We haven't seen you in four days and then you come back like this, what happened?" Asked Michiru as soon as they sat the other girls at the root of the tree. "If it is something wrong, you know you can trust in us."

"Moop and Foop are saying you transformed while you were gone," Kaoru said, something that surprised Saki and Mai, "Since they are spirits they react to your powers too. So it is a new fight, then you can count on us."

"It's not as simple as just another fight," said maid with a diminished smile. "It's a little different situation, we don't know for sure what is really going on."

"To tell you the truth, we aren't the only Pretty Cure, there are many other groups and they all protect different and important things. But a pair of them are being controlled, they attacked us and kidnapped several magical beings, and now they want a formal fight against all of us this weekend," Saki summed up as best as she could.

"Are they strong?" Kaouru inquired, obviously referring to the controlled girls.

"We don't really know what their full powers are, they only use very basic attacks and in theory should be very week, but the are actually formidable opponents. The real problems is an instinct that every Pretty Cure has to keep us from attacking each other with our full potential," Mai continued. "We don't know if they are under that effect or their instinct is no longer active; we have fought, but nobody's been hurt so far."

"We have this fight against them, we have to rescue the other fairies as soon as possible. Not only them, but also the grandma of one of our friends, she used to be a Pretty Cure too," Saki finished.

Michiru and Kaoru exchanged a look at these revelations. Their friends were very worried about the kidnaped people, not so much for the fight in itself. They knew they also were fighting to get back the controlled warriors, but at the moment their first priority was the prisioners.

"And the plan is...?" Michiru inquired, urging them to keep on talking.

"At the moment, wait until the fight, this weekend at Wakabadai district, in a forest in the surrounding area," Saki replied, now calmer than to their chat with the twins.

"And why don't you go after them now?" Kaoru asked, consued as to why they hadn't done so already.

"Many reasons. Not only are the spirits and the grandmother, but they have also become progresively more aggressive; unless we follow their rules they can decide to stop to make things truly dangerous. They can kill us, I know they have enough power to do so, and they have managed to catch us by surprise several times in just a few days, had been able to tank several focused and combined attacks, and they have shown up all over the place. We decided to wait for the fight and agree to their conditions," Mai explained grimly.

The sisters exchanged another look, realizing it was a very complicated situation indeed, but it appeared the worry had blinded the girls from something very important.

"When do you say the fight is going to take place?" asked Michiru with a confident smile.

"This next Saturday, first day of summer vacations," Mai replied automatically.

"That sounds good," Kaoru murmured. "Now, how about if tomorrow, after class, we go to one of you two's house, study for the exams and talk a little about your new friends and those Pretty Cure you're going to fight?"

"You have a plan?" Saki asked them with a relieved smile.

The twins nodded, happy to see their friend's mood improving. Everything would go find if they worked together and if Saki and Mai agreed with the plan they were thinking of.

At least for the guardians of the Land of Fountains the rest of the week went by in relative calm, especially once they found out about their friends' plan and realized it could work. It was a fortune that neither Saki or Mai had told much to the other girls about their own fights, the short time they had of knowing each other hadn't let them know about all their fights and adventures.

-Meanwhile in Clover Town-

It took the girls a couple days to properly calm down. Love was still crushed by the absence of Chiffon, Tart and Azukina, but she did her best to put on a strong front for her close friends; Setsuna had decided to take upon herself to be the pillar that Love could hold onto, doing it as best as she could. Miki, as it was her wont to do, kept a tranquil and serene, almost strict attitude by constantly reminding Love that she had to fight with everything if she wanted to save her friends and everybody else. Inori for her part, was still saddened but she kept her hopes up, constantly following Miki around looking for the feeling of security and comfort the other girl radiated. She sought after the model and she never refused to have her at her side, quite the contrary, she appeared happy to have Inori seeking her out. The mutual support was important.

It was Wednesday after class, while the girls were eating donuts at Kaoru's, that the communicator activated. It was Karen and Komachi.

"Girls, we are going to scout the place for the duel with Black and White. It'll be better to get a combat strategy ready to prevent any surprise," Karen said immediately. "Yuri-san said if we remain from going into Wakabadai everything should be okay, so we should stick to looking to the forest, look the site and think of what we can plan from there."

"Good idea, Karen-san!" Love exclaimed with her usual energy.

"It's not necessary for all of us to go, at the moment we only require of Setsuna-san's help," Komachi said calmly, "and we can have some volunteers to photograph the area; Erika-chan said she can provide us with some digital cameras her father doesn't use. The better we use the terrain the better."

"Can we go too?" Love asked in enthusiasm. "We can help with taking photos."

"Of course," Karen replied. "We will be waiting for you at my house, but stop by for Erika first, she should be at the greenhouse Hanasaki."

"Understood!" Setsuna said. "I'll take care, come on girls."

They said goodbye to Kaoru and immediately took off.

-Meanwhile, in Kibougahana-

Erika was checking the cameras, snapping random pics of the flowers in the area. She was trying to distract herself as much as possible, although it was still obvious she was nervous and not exactly because of their task of scouting the fight's area. Yuri's serious presence helped her calm down and avoid thinking about Tsubomi. She was very worried about her. Several times she wished it was her who was at her side to provide moral support, like it had been when it was just the two of them.

Without meaning to, she remembered that doujin of the Pretty Cure drawn by Ban, where Blossom and her were the protagonists and in the end they decided to stay with each other instead of looking for love. It was at times like these that she wished her history was like that. It was close enough, except she wasn't in love with Itsuki, but it gave them courage enough to Tsubomi to take the risk of asking out her friend.

She shook her head, trying to clear it from these thoughts. It wasn't the time nor the place to be thinking about these things, she had to focus on the mission and their important fight. There was no time to worry about other things when the fairies and Kaoruko were in grave danger. Thinking about Black and White helped her put her priorities back in order.

On her side, Yuri was checking the text messages on her cellphone. There were so many from Momoka that she couldn't help smiling. The majority of these messages was encrypted and short text of moral support and devote love, in that order.

Momoka was very sorry for not being able to be at her side during these tense moment. The job was eating all her free time and at night it wasn't the best moment to seek out for Yuri. The brief phone conversations was everything they had managed to enjoy these days. Details and attention was enough to keep the calm and courage for Yuri, but it was obvious it wasn't enough to calm down Momoka's unrest.

A couple hours earlier Momoka had called Yuri, knowing she would still be at home before going to the greenhouse to wait along with the rest of the girls and her sister. If the young model was aware of all their movements it was because Yuri confided everything on her, even the little details.

"Be careful, Yuri," one among the many gentle words from Momoka.

"I will, don't worry. I have to prevent the other girls from putting themselves under unnecessary danger, or keep them from trying to look for the other girls," was Yuri's calm reply. "We will scout the area as I told you, I don't think we will run into anything dangerous."

"Okay, take care of Erika and the rest," said the model. "And when you return, call me, even if nothing happened..." there was a brief moment of silence, "I want to know you're okay."

"I will, I promise..."

"Thanks..."

At these words, Yuri could only sigh with a little smile.

"Thanks for everything, Momoka...," she said immediately. "I don't know what I would do without you."

"Well, I would like to do more, so much more for you than just watching you go to fight," Momoka whispered with a touch of bitterness in her voice, almost sad. "Sometimes I feel so useless being unable to do anything more for you, Yuri. I feel all my messages and calls bother you, but I don't know what else I can do to help you..."

"Momoka..."

"I can't fight like my sister or like Miki-chan and the other girls, I don't have that power or any other to do something more important for you," Momoka interrupted her, obviously troubled as she listed all the things she couldn't do.

"Momoka, no...," Yuri hadn't had the chance to think of a reply to calm down her girlfriend before she continued.

"But I'll do anything I can for you, anything I can do with these hands," she continued, recovering her strength.

Yuri knew that conversation couldn't continue by the phone. She thought that the best thing to do would be talk with her in person as soon as possible. She wanted to show Momoka how important it was for her to have her at her side.

"I don't think we will come back too late, could I go with you later on, Momoka?" Yuri inquired with a gentle smile.

"Yes, okay," sighed the girl.

"We will talk more calmly later. For now go back to work and focus, everybody has to see how beautiful you are, no matter how that idea annoys me," she joked, eliciting a giggle from Momoka at Yuri's attempt of a serious and jealous tone.

"Nobody is forcing you to have a girlfriend as pretty as me, isn't it?" she replied in a playful voice, "Be careful, Yuri."

"We will."

Remembering that conversation filled Yuri with a brilliant joy.

Both Erika and her were waiting for the other girls to arrive so they could get to work. Luckily they didn't have to wait for long. A red light shone in the greenhouse before it blinked out, leaving Love, Miki, Inori and Setsuna in its place.

Without wasting any time the group of now six went to Karen's house and immediately went looking for the place Black and White had indicated.

Komachi had been researching and found some air photos and some random information, but there was nothing like seeing the place in person. Now in the future combat zone, the first thing they noticed was a huge shadow at their feet that looked like a lion's head. There was a clearing at the feet of the stone formation, and a short distance away there was a lake that created the illusion of the sun melting within the water and the hundreds of trees all around. It was a beautiful place. Coffret transformed into a cape and took Erika to the peak of the mountain.

"Incredible!" Erika shouted from the peak and started to snap photos of the valley.

"Erika, be careful!" Yuri shouted from bellow.

The other girls chuckled when they saw Erika only being able to reply with some signals, and they continued looking around the area. It was a place too beautiful to become the stage of their battle, but it was obvious Black and White had chosen that place for a reason.

"It's sad that we have to fight in such beautiful place," Inori said with a sad smile. "There are many animals around, the air is fresh and the lake is beautiful. I bet we could swim and fish in there."

"Don't worry, Bukki, once we win this fight we can come back with everybody, right Karen-san?"

"That's the plan, Love," smiled the other girl.

Yuri remained quiet at these words. Thanks to Momoka's support she had managed to recover her cool, but she couldn't help feeling like the lowest every time she heard the other girls animatedly talking about the idea of winning and get their friends back. It was painful, but she had to endure a little while longer if she wanted her friends to keep up their spirits.

A little while later Erika came down from the lion's head and showed the photos she had taken from the top. She appeared as animated as usual, although it was obvious she missed that Itsuki and especially missed Tsubomi weren't there. According to what Yuri mentioned, the girls had remained behind in the greenhouse, Tsubomi was still alterated and the last thing the girl needed was to break down completely.

"You can see the city that way," Erika pointed out, "That's where Black and White live, right?"

"Yes, they live there, I think that's why they picked this area..." Karen murmured.

"It's not just that," Coffret said, catching the girl's attention. "I can feel a lot of energy in the area, it's not evil, but spirit, light and many other natural energies are focusing here. That's why you all feel so energetic. This is a powerful zone."

"Could that give them more power during the fight?" Karen inquired, interested in the little bit of information.

"Only if they were like you. Only magical attacks will be boosted with this power, but not physical strength," Coffret replied.

"It's almost as if they were trying to give us any advantage they can," Komachi commented.

They all were left thinking about the possibility, not just that they were being taunted, not just to make them succumb to their anger as Yuri knew so well, but to the idea of being given so many advantages for the fight. It was all too strange.

After a while the girls decided to go back home and planned to stay with Karen that Friday's night. The next day they would go to the fight as it had been planned, confident that their plans would go without a hitch and would recover their magical friends, Kaoruko and the two lost warriors.

Only Yuri knew the story wouldn't have a happy ending.

During the night they all talked through their devices to iron the general details for the plan for the weekend. Everything had to go according to the plan, everybody would come back safe.

-Verone middle school-

It was Thursday and the school was holding a friendly Lacrosse match with the recently formed Aria middle-school's team from Kanon City. Nagisa was present to cheer on her former team but she managed to discover something very interesting: in the visiting team there was a very interesting girl, and not only that, among the students from Aria showing their support for their team there was a girl with the same familiar presence Nagisa knew so well. It wasn't long before she found out the name of the girl in the team that, she knew already, was a pretty Cure:

Hibiki Houjou.

After the game, that the visiting team lost by a single score, the home team took the rest of the girls to the Tako Café to celebrate their game. Nagisa went looking for Honoka to the library, thinking about adding two more opponents to their great battle.

"The more the merrier, right?" excitedly Nagisa said.

"As far as I know, only the teams we have visited are capable of fighting at our level," said Honoka in worry, "If these new warriors are, well, new, then they aren't ready to face us. It could be very dangerous for them. If they are just starting their own battles, then..."

"We lose nothing with just testing them, come on!" exclaimed the other girl, taking her partner by the hand and dragging her running to the Tako Café.

They remained hidden behind some tress, looking at the teams eating takoyaki as if it were the last food in the planet, especially the girl Nagisa had been looking for: Hibiki. She had a formidable appetite and Honoka laughed gently when she pointed out that appetite was more than familiar. While they waited for Verone's team to leave the area they noticed movement from the nearby bush. Paying attention they rubbed their eyes when they recognized what was causing the commotion: a colorful musical note.

Nagisa smiled and stretched out a hand.

"Come, little one, you're safe," called out the girl and the note posed itself on her hand.

Suddenly a third voice interrupted them, scaring the little note.

"That note is mine!" shouted a black cat and immediately pounced after the note that tried to fly deeper into the forest.

"Leave it-nya! I'll get that note back-nya!" shouted a little white cat, running after the other kitty.

To finish the scene, three men ran after the two cats. Nagisa and Honoka exchanged a look, smiled and followed at the peculiar characters. In the way they transformed, it could be a good chance to try the new warriors. In a clearing the note tried to hide in a rock but it was immediately transformed into a monster that constantly screamed "Negatone". The white kitty was terrified as the black kitty seemed to have the monster under her control. It seemed a good moment to enter the scene.

"Go and make everybody unhappy, Negatone!" the black cat ordered.

"You're in the wrong place, we don't tolerate this kind of troubles here!" Black shouted, appearing on the side of the clearing.

"Your battle is somewhere else, so fight where it corresponds you!" White exclaimed.

"Who are you?" Seiren asked, surprised and slightly scared of the power the other two were bleeding off.

"They are Pretty Cure-nya!" Hummy said with happiness.

"Emissary of the Light, Cure Black!"

"Emissary of the Light, Cure White!"

Seiren back away and jumped on the shoulders of one of her henchmen, who, by the way, were just as scared of the girls' power.

"Negatone, attack them!" Seiren ordered and the monster obeyed.

Black moved away, leaving White to fight the Negatone alone, something that caught everybody by surprise.

"Stop right now!" White ordered the monster and the giant not only stopped, but it knelt down in front of her. "Good boy, don't worry, everything will be okay and you will be your old self soon, I promise," she continued, petting the Negatone's arm as if it were her dog.

Seiren and the rest noticed Cure White's eyes brimming with shadows, Black remained next to Hummy who looked on the scene disconcerted.

"We will borrow your Negatone, you can beat it before we get mad," crossing her arms, Black said with easy calmness.

"We d-don't have to listen to you!" Seiren stuttered, her fur standing on end.

"_**LEAVE!**_" White shouted in a deep tone, terrifying and dark, accompanied by a shockwave of energy that none of the visitors had ever felt before.

Without thinking it twice the trio and cat ran away without looking back. That energy was too much, so much that Hummy was left shivering like a leaf against a tree. Black picked her up and cradled her in her arms; the little kitty calmed down immediately. Unlike White's presence, Black's energy was clear and full of light and life.

"There's no problem if we test your girls a little, right?" Black asked. "I promise nothing wrong will happen to them... and White only use that trick when it is necessary, don't worry about it."

"Okay-nya," replied Hummy with happiness, enjoying the contact with Black.

"Let's go, White, if they can help it will be great!"

"Let's," she replied and then looked at the Negatone. "Wait until everybody falls sleep and then attack, okay?" White ordered and the monster nodded.

Back at the Tako Café both teams were eating and enjoying the festive atmosphere. Hibiki was showing off her great appetite, something Akane laughed at talking about somebody she knew with a similar appetite. Hikari on her side knew that that girl, and her friend who was scowling her bad manners, were Pretty Cure. She was sure of what was about to happen, so she prepared to protect the rest of the people present. Feeling her friends' energy nearby she got in the van and soon felt that everybody present, even Akane, feel asleep. Hibiki and Kanade immediately got on guard.

Seeing the Negatone slumbering from among the trees they took their brooch and, thanks to the fact everybody had fallen sleep, immediately transformed. Black and White took an extra precaution in case they hadn't mature enough as warriors: They were riding on the Negatone's back, using dark capes to pass as just another part of the monster.

"Playing the wild rhythm, Cure Melody!" Hibiki introduced herself, now transformed in an eye catching, pink warrior.

"Playing the tranquil melody, Cure Rhythm!" Kanade followed suit, now as a blond warrior clad in white.

Without wasting any time both girls launched themselves with everything after the Negatone. This one moved clumsily around due to the extra weight at its back. The duo was good, but Black and White could tell they still had a long ways to go. They were strong, but not strong enough, they were fast, but they could be even faster.

The girls prepared their magical attacks, pulling out their artifacts.

"MUSIC RONDO!"

Black and White jumped off the Negatone before it succumbed to the warriors' attack and the little Note were rescued by Hummy. Without giving them time to recover, Black and White jumped after Melody and Rhythm ready to do battle.

"But what the hel-?" Melody could say nothing more before a fist impacted her face.

"Melody!" Rhythm shouted just before a knee buried itself in her stomach.

It was time to see if they could use these new warriors or not.


	8. Chapter 8

ALL STARS: THE GREAT BATTLE OF THE LIGHT 

Pretty Cure belongs to Toei Animation.  
>The plot is mine.<br>English version thanks to dan heron. id: 482555

Part 8:**  
><strong>_One Heart_

Cure Black and Cure White were still apologizing to Hummy by the time Hikari left the van to check on why the girls hadn't returned just yet, and the avatar of the Queen found a very peculiar scene. A very funny one:

Hibiki and Kanade were lying on the grass without their transformations. Hibiki's face was already bruising and Kanade was still trying to pull more oxygen back into her body, and both were equally knocked out for foreseeable future. All the while a tiny white kitten was standing on her haunches, imperiously waving a furious little paw at the chagrined pair of Black and White Cures.

"You said nothing would happen to them-nya!" Hummy shouted for the umpteenth time while Hikari was trying to rouse the kitty's protégées back up. "You finished them with a single hit, you're so mean-nya!"

"We didn't think they would be that weak!" Black snapped defensively.

"You're too strong," Hikari murmured with a nervous tone.

"I told you they weren't ready, but you never listen!" White complained to her partner.

"Why don't you try harder to stop me if you know I'm so stubborn, huh?" Nagisa replied with an annoyed look.

"We are really sorry for this!" White apologized again. "We thought they would be a great help for our mission, but now I think they need to finish with the task they have in their hands first."

Hummy finally relented a little, knowing her girls would get better soon. The little kitty was a little out of it because of the giant and contrasting energy emanating from the two older warriors but, on the other hand, she was really excited about the idea that Melody and Rhythm would one day be just as strong and skilled as White and Black.

"Okay-nya," she said reassuringly. "They are just starting, but they will soon be able to stand at your side-nya!"

"We're eagerly waiting for that time," White replied with a smile," There are many friends who will be very happy to get to know them."

"They need to be more prepared; if this was a real attack it would have been it for them," Black murmured, still disappointed she couldn't even warm up a little in the "fight".

"It's not like we were ready when we were just starting, Black," White said with a nostalgic smile.

"More than them I bet," her partner said in the more dignified tone she could muster.

Hummy laughed and Hikari picked up the little kitty in her arms, giggling a little herself, and soon Black and White were laughing with them. When their laughter died down, the feline looked at the three girls with a curious and happy expression.

"Your hearts, your minds, your bodies and souls are in perfect harmony-nya, I can feel it-nya," she said happily. "One day Hibiki and Kanade will share that same harmony and they will be incredible warriors-nya!"

"I'm sure of that," White whispered with a smile.

"They better," Black said between her teeth, still resenting the lack of fighting.

"Sorry they can't help you right now-nya."

At that moment the other two Cures started to come back to the waking world.

"It would be better if we leave now, don't tell them about us, please," White said with a flustered smile. "Make up something, we don't want to distract them from their mission."

"We're really sorry, Hummy. Good luck with your girls!"

Black and White turned to leave, ready to bolt it before the rest of the people in the park could wake up, but Hummy stopped them with a question.

"Are you going to be fine-nya?"

Black and White smiled and took the other's hand.

"We are, thanks for asking," Black replied. "Don't worry your little head about it, Hummy, just pretend you never saw us and stick with your girls."

"That's easy-nya!"

With nothing more to say both girls vanished.

"Are they really going to be okay-nya?" Hummy asked Hikari this time.

"I sure hope so, right now we are dealing with a dangerous situation," Hikari explained with a sad smile. "But, I had faith on them."

"By the way-nya..."

"Hmm?"

"Shouldn't you be in the Garden of Light-nya? You're the Queen."

"Ah! That's a _long_ story..."

Before Hikari could say any more, sounds of pain came from the downed pair of girls. The kitty jumped to the ground and blond girl ran back to the van.

Everybody back at the Tako Café was waking up and, while a little disoriented, went back to their routines without being any the wiser. Hibiki and Kanade, back deep into the park, were also back to their feet. Hibiki was complaining about the immense pain on her face while Kanade felt as if a wrecking ball had hit her right on the stomach. Hummy simply reported seeing a pair of rocks being fired by the Negatone as it was purified, knocking them out cold.

"Two rocks?" Hibiki asked, still disoriented. "I could swear we had taken care of the Negatone," she murmured, rubbing the pain on her nose.

"You need to be better prepared-nya!" Hummy admonished them. "You better go back to your friends or they are going to get worried-nya."

"Are you sure they were just rocks?" Kanade insisted, still having some problems getting her breath under control. "And what happened to Seiren and the three stooges that are always following her around?" she inquired, looking about the area.

"No idea-nya!" said the kitten with a huge smile.

The pair exchanged a look, Hummy wasn't being much help, but they knew they couldn't get anything more out of their carefree guardian so they decided to drop the matter for the time being.

With no more recollection other than two dark figures rushing in their direction, the warriors had to resign themselves with the explanation. Hibiki and Kanade still had a mission in their hands and it wasn't the right moment to get together with the rest of the Pretty Cure; at least not until they had come to their full potential. There was still a long road ahead of them, but they were going to get there and fight side by with the rest of their fellow warriors.

That same afternoon, in a different district, Saki was going back home from her training with the Softball team; a little extra hop in her step. Ever since the talk she and Mai had with the twins she found herself more relaxed. She was currently without her partner because her artist girlfriend didn't have any club activities that day and she had gone back to her own place, but not on her own decision. Saki hadn't wanted to have Mai waiting for hours alone so Saki asked her to go home and rest a little.

"Saki, I'm hungry-lapi," Said Flappy from inside the accessory hanging from Saki's neck. "Give me some chow-lapi."

"I heard ya already," Saki whispered with a smile. She made a stop at bench at the side of the mountain's road and gave her little friend some food. "Hey Flappy, do you think we will be okay?"

"I'm sure you will-lapi," replied the spirit between bites. "You have tons of new friends and Michiru and Kaoru have a great plan of their own. We will be fine-lapi."

"Yeah, you're right. It's just, I can't help being a little worried," she whispered, hugging her knees. "We have to rescue everybody and introduce Michiru and Kaoru to the girls, and I also want to have those donuts Love and her friends keep talking about. There's so much to do after the fight!"

"That's the spirit-lapi!"

Both shared a laugh before being interrupted by the ring of their communicator. It was Nozomi who didn't seem to be in high spirits. It was obvious she had been affected deeply by her dear friends' disappearance, but Saki still had no idea of how deep those feelings ran for one of the captured princes.

"Hey," was the simple salute from the athlete once she got a good look at Nozomi's face through the communicator's screen.

"Hello, Saki-chan. How are you and Mai-chan doing?" asked the girl, trying to force a smile to her face and failing miserably at it.

"We're fine and ready to fight!" was Saki's upbeat reply, lifting her softball bat over her head.

"Yeah, you're right. We have to be ready to fight," Nozomi said, forcing a smile.

"Nozomi..."

Saki didn't like seeing her new friend look like this, not when the first thing she had seen of Nozomi was a huge and radiant smile that could have put the sun to shame. She wasn't really sure what she could say to at least give her some comfort, she didn't really know what Nozomi was going through. She hadn't lost her magical partner. Flappy was at her side as always. However...

A smile made its way to her face as a memory came back to her.

"They will be fine, have hope, Nozomi," she said in a quiet tone, one that was so unlike her, ignoring the fake smile on Nozomi's face.

The words made the young warrior drop the happy facade and bury her face on a pillow. Nozomi was in her room because she hadn't felt like staying at Natts House or with Karen, much less staying with Rin and Urara at the school. Kurumi barely spoke a word these days except when classes forced her to, and she was looking for any excuse to stay near Karen, even if that involved helping with the Student Council's duties along with Komachi.

Nozomi just wanted one thing: get her friends back. Get Coco back. If it wasn't for Rin's constant support and presence, Nozomi was sure she would have made a straight line to Wakabadai without thinking twice. Yuri's wise instructions and the reminder of what everybody else was going through was enough to ground her back to Earth. Thinking about Tsubomi's grandmother, prisoner along with her friends, helped give her some perspective too.

"Saki-chan..."

"You have the Great Power of Hope, isn't that right?" Saki continued, remembering Cure Dream's words. "Then have hope!" she smiled as widely as she could. "You'll see them again, your friends are fine I'm sure. They won't be defeated so easily," she continued without letting Nozomi get a word in, as Saki remembered about the time when she thought she had lost Michiru and Kaoru.

Seeing that look so full of energy made Nozomi smile. Those words made the pinkette feel that Saki truly knew what Nozomi was feeling at the moment.

"They are waiting for us, right?" Nozomi asked, drawing a honest and small smile.

"That's right! You can't lose hope now, they are waiting for you," she replied, putting a fierce expression. "You have us all to help you, you know?"

"Yes, that's right!" the girl laughed, feeling already better.

"You better save your energies, you'll need them for this Saturday." Immediately, her smile widened even more, remembering their little Ace under the sleeve. "Trust me, everything will turn out okay, I promise."

The pair kept on talking some more, and between silly words and jokes, the pair bid goodnight, leaving Nozomi feeling very relaxed for the moment and Saki feeling pretty satisfied herself. What she didn't notice that night, however, was the frustrated look that Mai put when Saki told her about her chat with Nozomi.

Nozomi for her part, decided to take a little walk that ended when she bumped on Urara and Rin. The redhead had been doing her best to cheer up the little blond, and she had also been doing her best for Nozomi, but it wasn't fair to leave the duty all on Rin's shoulders.

So, to show her gratefulness, the first thing Nozomi did was jump on and envelop Rin in a bear hug. Though, she only managed to startle the redhead in the process.

"Nozomi! It's okay, don't worry, I told you everything will be okay," the girl mumbled, trying to return the hug. "The next time those two won't know what they are getting into! If we have to, I will go where they are keeping the guys and I'll get them back, I-!"

But her friend didn't let her say any more, giving Rin a little kiss on the cheek to shut her up. Urara looked on with held breath at Nozomi's actions, watching Rin's stunned silence.

"It's decided!" Nozomi exclaimed, raising her index finger as she was won't to do. "We will rescue them! We have so many of our friends going through the same, we aren't the only ones who are having a terrible time because of it. They are suffering too, and a lot. Tsubomi-chan needs to see us strong so Erika-chan and Itsuki-chan can tell us she isn't so sad anymore. Our friends have to be safe, I'm completely sure of it! They are waiting for us, right?"

That radiant look, bright like the sun, that they knew so well, her positive attitude of always, that hope that bordered on the childishly innocent, her wide smile so full of warmth... that was the Nozomi Rin and Urara knew. They couldn't help smiling back with happiness.

"That's the attitude that we need to have, yes sir!" Rin yelled, picking Nozomi in her arms.

"Nozomi-san!" Urara exclaimed, jumping on the girls, making the trio fall on a pile of tangled limbs to the ground.

"I'll put you both on a diet! So heavy!" Rin complained, doing her best to get her friends off her.

"Then we will put you on diet too," Nozomi joked, pinching her friend's cheek.

"I can't be on diet, you know I do more exercise than the two of you put together. I need tons of energy!" the redhead protested, one part offended the other part proud of the fact.

Urara laughed delicately and moved away, but Nozomi didn't follow her good example. Rather, she clung tightly to Rin, just to annoy her friend a little further. The little blond looked at the scene with an amused expression on her face, enjoying her friends bickering around. Nozomi had always been their guiding light, a lighthouse on a dark stormy sea, so seeing her in high spirits returned some much needed calm to her heart.

"I'm going home, I will see you later," the blond said, making the struggling pair stop for a moment and pay attention.

"But, are you okay?" Rin asked with sudden concern. "Would you like us to walk you home?"

"I want to go back on my own," the girl clarified but before her friends could start to worry, she continued. "If things between our agencies are going as smoothly as Momoka-san is telling me, then I have to start working on those songs sooner than later. Thanks to you I have some great ideas for new songs, I better start working right away!" she exclaimed, so happy that she made her friends smile too. "I may need Komachi-san's input, but you don't need to worry."

With nothing more to say Urara ran towards her home. Rin and Nozomi stayed on the ground, taking a few more potshots at each other for a while longer before they decided to make their way back home among laughs and friendly bickering.

In Kibougahana Yuri was rushing towards the Fairy Drop as fast as possible. She had been planning their battle strategy along with Karen, Komachi and Kurumi through their communicators and before she noticed it night had fallen. It was fairly late and earlier that day she had agreed to check with Momoka after work.

She didn't want her girlfriend to be thinking about feeling useless because she wasn't fighting alongside with them. Even though she had thought about doing something complex and romantic she knew the best thing was a direct approach and just tell her just how much Momoka's presence meant to Yuri.

She didn't have a speech ready, but she trust she could find the words by the time she and Momoka sat to talk... but the plan went off the window when she noticed Momoka's silhouette at the end of the road.

Yuri's mind drew a blank and her heart decided to take the reigns.

"Momoka!" she called out, picking up the pace.

The model turned around at the familiar voice, a smile on her lips and the usual happy look, which turned confused as she found herself hugged by Yuri. "What's wrong, Yuri?" she asked, worry creeping into her voice right away.

"I don't want you to think that again!" Yuri exclaimed, holding her tighter against her body. "Having you at my side is what matters. You give me strength and support when I need it. You listen to me, never interrupting or judging me. You're my strongest support, you don't need to fight, everything you have done and given me already is more than enough, so don't ever say you feel useless, understood?"

Yuri's words left Momoka in a breathless stupor, made worse when Yuri decided to stress her words with a gentle kiss on the cheek.

"Yuri..." Momoka whispered, flustered like never before.

"I..." with the courage of the moment finally winding down, the bespectacled girl froze on her place, not knowing what else to do. "Momoka... I... you don't... don't say you... don't even think about that."

"Okay," Momoka replied, returning Yuri's hug with gentle strength. "Do you want to come to my place?"

Yuri was tempted -oh so very tempted- to give in, but at that moment Itsuki came out of the Hanasaki flower shop. Yuri immediately moved away from Momoka.

"Yuri-san, Momoka-san!" Itsuki said happily when she caught sight of them. "Good evening!"

"Good evening," the older girls replied, one smiling, the other flatly.

"If you excuse me I will go home, it's a little late to be outside," she said with her usual charming smile.

"Let's go, I'll walk with you," Yuri said immediately, recovering her cool and started to walk.

Itsuki didn't notice anything out of the ordinary but Momoka knew Yuri was very embarrassed at almost getting caught. The model couldn't help giggling, feeling so much better after listening to Yuri. She bid both girls good night and she went into her house.

A couple days later the spring break finally arrived with a bright sun and warm weather. In every school the students left classes with a tired but barely contained joy, ready to enjoy the vacations. However the warriors didn't share the sentiment; they saw the sunrise like the clear sign of the incoming fight.

Even if they told each other how easy things would go on their favor with their team work, even they had an overwhelming numerical advantage on their adversaries, even if their two adversaries focused almost exclusively in close quarter combats with almost no ranged magical support, they all spent the entire day stressing over their doubts.

They all were worried, and if they were honest about it, scared.

Just as they had planed, as soon as the school let off the girls changed clothes at their homes and picked up some spare changes, then Setsuna brought all the other teams to Karen's mansion. After taking some time to unwind and cheering up with a banquet courtesy of their hostess, they spent some time looking over the photos of the area and going over their fight strategy one final time.

They were sixteen versus two. Even if the difference could sound absurd, the Black and White warriors had proven to be more than a match for them.

"The first thing we must ensure is keeping them apart from each other, force them to fight alone," Yuri said. "We have to finish this as soon as possible. Knocking them out would be our best option so then we can interrogate them under our own terms. However, any of you has purifying powers?" she asked at the rest of the girls.

The girls exchanged looks and most of them shook their heads in negativeg. Yuri sighed.

"We have that type of attacks," Yuri said, waving at Erika, Itsuki and Tsubomi in turn. She looked at her team and thought for a moment. "Sunshine, Blossom, Bloom, Egret, Peach, Berry, Pine and Passion will focus on White. Unlike Black, White lacks the brutal strength but she makes it up with extreme speed; you will have to corral her around so Sunshine and Blossom can have a clear shot on her with their purifying technique. Do everything to keep her under fire and unable to fight back. I know you will be able to deal with her."

The girls in question nodded, exchanging supportive smiles among them.

"Marine, Dream, Rouge, Lemonade, Mint, Aqua, Rose and me will deal with Black," she continued. "We will do mostly the same, but instead of creating an opening for our attack we will keep her focus on fighting somebody else so Marine and I can trap her.

"The purifying attacks we use are strong enough to reconnect people's hearts and help them recover their happiness. If there's darkness in them, our attacks should be enough to get them back to normal."

"Yuri-san," Tsubomi raised a hand when she felt she wouldn't interrupt her senior. "Do you think their Heart Flowers have wilted?"

"We haven't had the chance to check on that, but it wouldn't surprise me if that's the case," Yuri replied.

"What's that of Heart Flowers?" Nozomi asked.

"Every Human being holds a Flower within them, that Flower is the source of their happiness while also being a connection and source of energy to the Great Tree of Hearts. If you are burdened by sad feelings, if you fall in depression or you are suffering, your Flower starts to wilt, and the Tree starts to weaken," Yuri explained. "Each Flower is an expression of the personality and true self of each person. If Black and White are being controlled, then their Flowers should have wilted. Our techniques will help them break free of any control on them."

There was a moment of silence as the rest of the room digested the new information. It sounded like a good idea so far...

Kurumi raised a hand and Yuri gave her the spotlight with a nod.

"If those techniques failed?" she asked the thing everybody else didn't want to ask.

They were just making guesses, theories, tossing ideas that could fail due to their lack of information. There was a long moment of silence that nobody wanted to break.

"We can only put our faith on what have in our hands. If that fails then we will have to fall back to knocking them out," Yuri said after letting out a quiet sigh. "They won't be able to transform if they aren't in contact, we saw that on the last fight, so we will go with our first plan and if that doesn't work, we will have to force them to lose their transformation; we can think about our next step then. That's all I can think at the moment."

The planning session was over now so they could only wait. A few more hours and everything would be over.

The rest of the day went by without any incident and the night crawled painfully slow before the sun rose over the horizon, bathing the first day of summer vacations on light. Black and White hadn't settled for a specific hour for the fight so there was little they could do other than wait at the feet of the Lion rock as they had been instructed.

Yuri was very, very nervous but she did her best to hide the fact from her partners. She feared for the inevitable moment when the girls would find the truth of the faeries' fate. Would they go out of control? Overwhelmed by anger or hate... there just wasn't a way to be sure of what would happen once they found out what happened to their friends. Catching a glimpse of Setsuna summoning Akarun, Yuri clasped her hands together and asked her Father and Cologne for strength. She would need to be there for the girls.

The already familiar red light surrounded them and a blink later they found themselves at the base of the millenary lion-like rock. The lake stretching in front of them shone like a mirror and everything around them, the breeze, the quiet forest, gave a cool and comforting feeling. Too comforting.

They immediately transformed and waited, but not for long.

"Right on time as we expected. I like responsibility on my opponents," a voice said and the girls immediately recognized it as Cure White's.

The group turned to the edge of the clearing and found her right away; the uniform stood in stark contrast against the rest of the trees. Even though they couldn't see her yet, they knew Cure Black was bond to be nearby.

"If you thought we would let ya get away with your stupid plans, then you're in for a disappointment!" Marine shouted, grinding her fists against each other. "We're gonna give you the ass kicking of your lives!"

"That's the spirit!" Cure Black's voice sounded from the other side of the clearing. "You have kept me waiting for a good fight, so you better keep your promise."

"You really think you will be able against so many opponents?" Aqua asked with crossed arms.

"You already asked something like that before," White said from her side. "I think the only way you will find if the answer has changed is if you start fighting, don't you agree?"

"If we win you will return Coco and everybody else to us!" Dream said with tight fists.

The wicked smiles that grew on Black's and White's faces me Moonlight tremble. She could feel a shiver going all the way from her feet to the back of her head. She noticed the look the couple focused on her before exchanging a quick look between the two of them.

"I thought," Black said lazily, crossing her hands behind her head in a careless way, "That you would have found out about it by now," she said in a bored tone.

"Found about what?" confused Dream asked.

"Well, you see-!"

Before she could say anything else, Moonlight moved like lighting, trying to punch Black's face in. White didn't seem surprised, nor did she bother to step in to help her friend. The rest of the group looked on in astonishment as Black was pushed several meters back, digging trenches on the ground with her feet, with Yuri's fist on her face... only to find that Black had stopped the hit by mere millimeters.

"You're far kinder than you try appear, Moonlight," Black whispered so only Yuri could hear her. "You know they will find about it sooner or later."

"I can carry with this burden for a while longer."

"As you wish."

"**Attack**!" Yuri shouted and jumped away just as Dream and her team descended on Black.

The other half of the group moved against White, leaving Sunshine and Blossom behind as they had planned. Egret and Bloom took to the air and showered White on magical attacks, but the black haired girl had little problems dodging and deflecting their attempts. While the guardians of the Land of Fountains did their part, Peach and Passion took the first round attacking White head on.

"Now you're really working as a team, I like that," White said with a pleased smile. "But you still aren't giving your all!" she shouted, shoving her palms against Love and Setsuna's chests. Passion and Peach were sent flying back by the deceptively powerful attack. They managed to block in the last moment, avoiding getting knocked out by the sudden attack.

Without letting her rest, Berry and Pine took over the frontal attack, while Bloom flew behind White and took aim. Saki was ready to run White over with an energy shield with Egret flying right behind Bloom, in case White somehow managed to dodge the surprise attack.

White spun and kicked Pine and Berry away before jumping and twisting in mid air to stop Bloom's shield with both feet. Bloom tried to push her away but White kicked at the same time, shattering the shield and sending Bloom flying back to crash against Egret. Berry and Pine tried to attack again while White was still in the air, but White used the force of her previous attack to spin and send the other two girls flying away with an ax kick.

"She... she's too strong," Blossom said, unable to keep her voice from trembling as she watched Bloom and Egret recover from the impact and started to trade hits directly with White.

"We can't gang on her like we would do against a monster. We simply don't have enough room for everybody to attack," Sunshine said, analyzing her adversary's fighting style. "Our turn approaches," she said fiercely, "We will try to attack her from behind after they move."

"Yes!"

Berry and Pine pulled out their magical accessories and summoned their techniques while White was busy with Bloom and Egret.

"Spoir Shower!"

"Healing Prayer!"

Both attacks rushed after White and Bloom and Egret moved out of the way. The white clad warrior smiled a little before jumping towards the attacks. With a mighty war cry she kicked the magic attacks away.

"I bet you can still give me some more," White said with her usual placid smile before turning towards Blossom and Sunshine. "Now it's your turn!" she shouted, launching herself after the couple.

Chypre, Coffret and Potpurri were watching over the fight from their hiding place on the lion rock formation. They were quietly cheering each and every one of the fighting girls, but they couldn't help thinking not only about how strong Black and White were, but about the energy they seemed to leak from time to time. Black, despite fighting with the brutality of an enraged beast, radiated a light and warm energy; just the type of energy one would expect from the warriors of the Garden of Light. White, on the other hand, who took a calmer approach and whose reactions seemed more placid unlike her partner, radiated a dark energy that seemed to fluctuate, harsh one moment and almost impossible to feel the next. She simply didn't have the amount of Light energy one would expect from the Queen's warriors.

"Let's take a look into their hearts, then we can know if Marine's and the other girl's techniques will work," Coffret said and Chypre nodded.

The two fairies focused their powers and focused on Black and White when the duo stopped for a moment. What they found left them speechless. Potpurri, who was yet to develop that skill, was impatiently waiting to hear what they saw.

Unlike her partner, who calmly waited for and dodged the attacks, Black was all too happy to take the initiative and attacked with all the ferocity she could muster. After an explosive exchange of blows with Rose and Dream, she launched herself after Lemonade, easily breaking her light chain to pieces and kicked back Rouge's fire balls. Seeing the water arrows and sharp green discs from Aqua and Mint she went after them head on, destroying everything in her path like a cannon ball in her quest to reach the other warriors.

Marine looked on the battle with trembling fists, impressed by the desire to battle and the surprise of seeing Black fighting in such fierce manner. Moonlight was surprised too, finally seeing the limits Black and White could easily reach. When she noticed Marine ready to jump into the fight herself, caught up on the rush of the moment, she tried to stop her but was a moment too slow.

"Marine Dive!" the girl shouted, launching an energy charged kick after Black.

The sudden attack caught everybody by surprise and they only managed to jump away from Black. The short haired girl saw the attack coming and a huge smile grew on her face; she only managed to twist her body to face the attack head on. Moonlight saw her chance and she acted.

The clash between the Marine Dive and Black's fist caused a shockwave the pushed the rest of the girls back, but Marine and Black still tried to force the other back. The black clad warrior took a deep breath and then tried to put more pressure on her punch when a voice shouted behind her.

"Silver Forte Wave!"

Black got the full brunt of the attack right before water arrows and fire balls rained on her. Moonlight nodded in gratitude at the other girls for the quick thinking.

"Marine!" Moonlight shouted, her Tact already in her hand.

"Yeah!"

The black clad warrior stood up, coughing up on the cloud of debris kicked up by the explosions. As they expected, she didn't seem to be all that bothered by the punishment, not even showing any kind of fatigue or even any real injury. Just as she started to crack her knuckles for the next round she was surrounded by an energy that left her immobile.

"Huh?" there was a moment of confusion drawn on her face as she found herself surrounded by a giant and shiny flower of silver and sky blue petals. "I can't believe it, you really caught me!" she immediately smiled. "But not for long!"

Seeing the construct start to coming apart, Moonlight and Marine rushed to chant.

"Floral Power Fortissimo!"

Cure Black felt in that moment an impact on her chest and she had been ready to endure the attack, but instead she felt... she felt...

Dream and her team watched with excitement as their strategy finally worked, and they saw the short haired girl sag on her bounds as the technique seemed to do its job. Marine and Moonlight finished their attack with a harsh move.

"Heartcatch!"

The flower that held Black like a spiderweb vanished, letting the warrior fall to her unsteady feet. The girls who had been fighting her waited with bated breath for any reaction. Their hopes were crushed to dust when Black suddenly burst in action, jumping towards White and causing the other girls to scatter away. Seeing Black taking her partner's hand, Moonlight's team knew they had failed.

White had seen what the other team had been planning, but she had been sure that attack wouldn't have any effect on her partner, but...

"Uh, Black?" White said when she felt the gentle but insistent squeeze on her hand. "Don't you think it's a bit early for the Marble Screw?" she looked to her partner's face when no answer came. "Black?"

What happened next was something that nobody, especially Cure White, would easily forget any time soon.

"Honoka, I love you!" Cure Black shouted, picking up her partner in a hug and planting a loud and steamy kiss on her pink lips.

Everybody else could only look in a stunned silence as Black put her partner down but didn't let her go.

Cure White immediately started to struggle. Getting public displays of affection wasn't new for her. Getting felt up and having Nagisa's hands sneaking around to grope her in front of all the other girls was a very different one.

"Let's go home, it's the first day of vacations and I can't believe we have to fight!" Black said with a look of lust on her face while her hands roamed over White's body, despite the black haired girl's best attempts to stop her.

"Black, this isn't really the time!" shouted a panicked White. "A-ah...!"

Moonlight managed to cover Marine's eyes when one of Black's hand finally managed to get under and behind White's skirt. Lemonade covered her eyes with both hands but she couldn't help herself watching between her fingers as Black's tongue invaded White's mouth. The rest of her team couldn't even think of averting their eyes, their brains still trying to understand what they were seeing to think of anything else to do.

"Black! No! Down!" White said after she managed to pull herself away from her enamored partner. "They are watching, Nagisa!"

"Who cares!" she replied, lost in bliss. "I love you, Honoka!"

"Nagisa!"

Pine and Berry were closing their eyes from time to time, but they still got to see Black abusing the difference of strength to gently force White to the ground. Sunshine and Blossom blushed brightly red when they saw Black's hand trying to sneak into White's clothes to envelop her breasts could, realizing things between Black and White could be more than just friendship. Peach and Passion could only look at each other by the corner of their eyes as they fidgeted in silence at the sounds White made trying to break free without much success. Bloom and Egret could only stare with jaws hanging open, sensing an odd feeling of deja vu.

After a traitorous moan escaped her lips, Cure White used all her strength to push her partner back and quickly caught her in a submission hold around Black's head and neck. She looked at her audience with an expression of embarrassment and fury.

"This isn't funny!" she shouted with righteous indignation. "When Nagisa gets back to normal we will face you again!" her eyes found Moonlight and her expression grew angry. "If this is... urgh!"

"Ho~no~ka, let's go home," Black begged in a playful tone, still under the hold of her partner.

"Ah, ah! No, you won't escape!" Dream finally managed to break free of her stupor, causing everybody else to snap out of it.

Just as the numerous group started to move again, White raised a hand to the sky and murmured something. A bright rainbow suddenly shot down from the sky, catching Black and White, before it shot back up and vanished from sight.

There was a long and awkward silence as the glare of multicolored light finally faded from their eyes.

"So they escaped," Marine finally said, who despite her partner's best attempts she had seen all the good stuff.

"Moonlight, you never told us your technique had _that_ effect," Aqua murmured, avoiding eye contact with everybody else.

"To tell you the truth, this is the first time something like this has ever happened..." Yuri replied just as confused as her team.

"I guess we have to, uh, let the effect had its way with White... I mean, pass, I think that..." Bloom managed to mumble, unable to stop her brain from supplying with images about what could happen to White once Black finally got her alone. "W-we can go back home now, right?"

"Ah, yes. Home, let's go back home... we can only wait for now..." Dream said, her mind still trying to get back on gear.

The faeries finally came out from their hiding place, and they didn't seem too surprised by the sudden turn of events for some reason.

"We saw it!" Coffret said.

"Really?" Marine said with a smirk, only to get kicked on the head by Coffret.

"Their flowers!" the faerie clarified, sitting on Marine's head.

"Have they wilted?" Blossom asked, hugging Chypre against her chest.

"No, they glowed with a lot of strength! We also saw they both have the same Flower," Chypre replied.

"They have the same type of flower?" Sunshine asked calmly. It wasn't rare for two close persons to have the same type after all.

"It's not that exactly, we mean that Cure Black and Cure White share a flower, the same flower, ah... half and half!" Coffret explained it the best way he could. "Each one is half of a single heart, of a single flower. We had never seen anything like that. It is a red Camellia."

Blossom's eyes went wide like saucers at the revelation, and held Chypre a little tighter before her expression softened a little.

"In the language of the flowers, the red Camellia means ardent and eternal love," she said with a solemn tone.

"Their attack," Chypre said, "makes people recover their happiness in case that the flower has been damaged by negative feelings. When the Flower is healthy, like in this case, they are overwhelmed in happiness and make them feel much better. Black only looked to make her whole heart feel a complete joy..."

"That means with and to White, right?" Peach said, piecing things together.

"That's right. We're not sure for how long the effect is going to last, but we can be sure that any control on them is as good as gone when Black's Heart took control of her mind and body."

They could only wait now. They knew their tactics were effective and that they had a real chance to make the plan work. After trading a few extra words they returned to Karen's place to relax a little and spend the night there, having an impromptu sleepover to calm down.

They took the chance to get to know each other when they realized that besides the planning and scouting they had done, they knew actually very little about each other. At Yuri's advice, they decide to not pursue their opponents on their district at the moment, especially not when they had been shown to be especially good at catching them all by surprise.

It was deep into the night, but in the house of the Yukishiro, Honoka still couldn't sleep despite of how sore and tired she was. She was laying on bed, her body covered by a thin sheet and Nagisa draped over her chest, her boyish face neatly snuggled against Honoka's neck. Honoka was glad that she had undone their transformation as soon as they arrived, otherwise she was sure there would be pieces of white uniform littering her room.

"What happened?" Honoka muttered after a long sigh.

Not that she complained about what Nagisa had done to her through the entire day, but it was the principle of the matter.

"The attack they used made her heart swell, fill with warmth and look to get the source of her happiness close to her-mepo," replied the tiny Hero from inside his case, resting on the desk.

"I see," she murmured, looking at him by the corner of her eyes. "How is Mipple doing?"

"Well-mepo, but you know she can't stop focusing her powers even if you're not transformed-mepo."

"I'm very sorry. Because of me, you haven't been able to talk to her for a long while."

"If she could, she would tell you to not say things like that-mepo. We better let the dumb Nagisa recover so you can get back to fighting-mepo. We have to end with this soon or things could get dangerous-mepo!"

"I know."

There was more silence.

Just when Honoka thought she could finally get some sleep, Nagisa started to stir again, strong arms tightening around Honoka once more. Feeling the playful nips and licks on her neck, Honoka sighed with a gentle expression.

She wanted to cry, but she endured.

"I guess I better make up the most of what little time I still have with you," she whispered, hugging Nagisa back.


	9. Chapter 9

ALL STARS: THE GREAT BATTLE OF THE LIGHT 

Pretty Cure belongs to Toei Animation.  
>The plot is mine.<br>English version thanks to dan heron. id: 482555

_**Chapter 9 The Great Battle**_

Urara stared listlessly at the white sheet in front of her. The pen spun between her fingers, hoping the little dane would help placate the deities of creativity and bring the right words to her mind. After everything that had transpired during the fight the day before, she found her ability to focus slightly diminished.

After the fight they made their way back to Karen's place the group for debrief and new planning, but they were still a little too overwhelmed about everything that happened during the battle. Black and White seemed capable of the most improbable things, making any kind of planning even more difficult. Considering all the variables about the state they couple had left the fight in, looking for them at their district could have proven to be a very bad idea, so Yuri recommended they waited until the two contacted them again.

Of course, the memory of Black jumping on White without any shame or restraint was also more than fresh in their minds. Something many of them took with great humor.

But to Urara, witnessing such unrestrained and raw love, knowing that in the world truly existed people born to be together, made certain emotion beat hotly in her chest. That emotion made her forget, for just a brief moment, that the ones responsible for such feelings were the same people who had kidnapped Syrup and the rest of their friends. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying her best to control her emotions; she could barely wait to finish the fight and get her friends back, just like the rest of her battle partners.

Looking back to the sheet of paper she struggled with all the ideas fluttering around in her head. Her pen tried to pin them down, but for some reason nothing came to her unlike the wealth of ideas that had come before. She looked to the side to the other stacks of papers, proof that she could still do this; she had already written a couple songs around the theme of friendship and mutual support, something to help her honor her closest friends and their new partners.

Love in the other hand was completely uncharted territory. Maybe that's why she was unable to bring to life this song about love.

"Did you make a breakthrough?" came Komachi's tranquil voice from behind her, but her older friend quickly fell silent. Urara noticed that Komachi had seen the blank sheet and the singer only managed to cringe in embarrassment. "You are just tense like everybody else, once we get this behind us you will get back on the horse without problems. Being on edge like this isn't helping anybody either."

Urara had decided to pay a visit to Komachi the day after the fight, and now she was crashing in the other girl's bedroom. She vetoed visiting Nozomi because she knew the pink haired girl was hanging out with Rin at the moment, while Kurumi remained glued to Karen even that day. It was normal to look for some more support in this situation, so Urara had decided go to Komachi.

"Not quite..." Urara murmured, unable to find the right words to explain herself.

"Then?" the other girl encouraged her to continue.

"It's just that... I want to write a love song," she said before taking a little sip of her tea. "But now that I think about it, I'm not really an expert about the subject, now am I?" she added with an embarrassed smile.

"I think this is more a case where you just haven't quite seen all that there is really to it," Komachi said with a gentle look. "You just need to think about our friends, you know more about the subject than you think."

The young idol didn't bother to disguise her confusion as she looked back at Komachi.

"I can't really tell you about this. This is one of those things one must find about by themselves, but..." the writer continued. "Just ask yourself this: _Who am I writing this song to?_" she smiled, and Urara couldn't help smile back. "The theme doesn't matter and neither does the emotions you're trying share through your song, you just need to do as you always do and focus on who you're trying to reach with that sentiment. You already know how to do it, just take it easy."

"Thank you a lot, Komachi-san!" the little blond said in excitement.

She had been so focused on her failures Urara hadn't bothered to see the problem from another angle. The problem didn't look so intimidating anymore. Now, the question was who was the one person she wanted to dedicate this song to?

With the other two songs done it was more than clear. The first song deal about never giving up, about standing together and marching forward and she had dedicated it to her closest friends; the second, meanwhile, she gave thanks for being given the chance to met new people, no surprise it had been dedicated to her new friends. It was the third one that, it had to be heard by somebody special, but who? She thought about it for a long time, but the answer still escaped her. She decided to put the song aside for the time being and quickly thought about a new one for her team and new partners.

Meanwhile, Komachi was sure who her latest writings were addressed to. She missed that calm and strict look, that quiet look that always let her know when her scripts were good or bad. In those last months, the quiet young man had taken upon himself to become her editor; they had been working on a novel lately, but it was now sitting down on her desk, collecting dust. She couldn't help sighing a little at the reminder of his absence. She was sure Natsu and the other captives were fine, she could feel it in her heart of hearts, and that's why she wasn't worrying about it as much as in those first days. She wanted to see Natsu, she wanted to get him back as soon as possible.

"Hmm, I don't think I could do more about this, I'll go and make some curry to eat," Komachi said with a smile. "Keep working, I'll let you know when it's ready," she said, making her way to the door.

"Okay, thank you!"

Both girls were sure they would get their friends back.

In the private greenhouse of the Minazuki mansion, Karen and Kurumi were busying themselves by taking care of some of the plants. Unexpectedly, the outcome of the previous day had done much to cool down the general atmosphere among the teams, so much so that some couldn't help but find some humor on it. The pair of girls weren't the exception, especially not when the memory of White's face at the moment Black fell upon her was still fresh in their memory.

However, for Kurumi it wasn't so much of mirth but other emotions stirring in her heart.

She had proof that she wasn't as crazy as she had first thought. The idea of two Pretty Cute being able to be _that_ close had been a huge revelation and relief for her... not that she was a Pretty Cure in the strictest sense of the definition, but she fought alongside them and she thought herself an equal to her friends. She had her suspicions in the past, mostly due to that unusual closeness Saki and Mai shared every single minute they interacted, but it wasn't only those two; she couldn't help notice that several of her new partners looked very close, way too close and very comfortable most of the time. If Tsubomi wasn't hanging out with Itsuki at every chance they got, it was Love and Setsuna sharing the comfort of their closeness.

It was one thing to suspect and notice the quick and furtive touches among the probable couples, it was a very different getting a front row view of Black caressing White panty clad crotch... That pair had left nothing to the imagination. _Nothing_.

It was funny to a point, if one were to put aside their grim situation, of course.

Kurumi knew, to begin with, that she wasn't really Human, but that hadn't stopped Coco or Nuts of showing their interest for Nozomi and Komachi respectively, thus it shouldn't be an obstacle for her either. Heck, she had noticed that even Syrup held a thinly veiled interest on Urara.

She was sure of her own feelings, the real complications came when she tried to express them. Karen didn't make things any easier with that natural charisma and charm of hers that could make it _difficult_ to talk to her. It wasn't hard to figure out Karen was a gallant and noble knight in shining armor, always eager to put others before her and give her help whenever it was needed, either acting like a royal leader or a loyal follower, it was the same as long as she could help the people she cared about.

"... she's wonderful," Kurumi whispered with a faraway look, still lost in her thoughts about her blue haired knight, without noticing when her traitorous thoughts decided to put sound to her daydreaming.

"Indeed, this is a species my parents brought from Africa just a short while ago," Karen replied in a contemplative voice as she looked at the colorful flower in front of Kurumi, and missed the surprised gasp from the purple haired girl. With a critical eye she declared, "I think it's wonderful too."

It took her a few seconds but Kurumi finally realized Karen was talking about the flower in reply to what Kurumi had accidentally said. The fairy girl actually managed to mumble a few words about the flower in question, while almost dropping the watering can, so she begged Karen a little break before she could properly finish making a fool of herself in front of an increasingly amused Karen.

"I told you we are going to rescue the boys, so relax a little, okay?" the lady of the house said with a smile. "We may not know when the next fight will take place, but I am almost sure it will be sooner than later. If there are no more surprises, we will have them all back with us soon after."

"I know," Kurumi whispered with a calmer air around her, letting Karen pat her on her purple hair. "I trust you and the girls, I know we will rescue them. Thank you, Karen."

"You're welcome. Now, let's go inside, I'm getting a little hungry."

In the greenhouse of Kibougahara, Tsubomi was devoutly looking over the plants with help of Itsuki. Erika had gone and paid a visit to Miki and the rest of her group to take some measures for the outfits she was working on. Momoka had told them that morning that it was a matter of placing some last signatures on paper before they could start organizing the event itself, so they were going to need those outfits pronto. Erika hadn't wanted to waste time with a train ride, and she didn't want to bother Coffret to take her flying there -nor spend the effort of flying there herself-, so she asked Setsuna a favor to pick her up, claiming it was an extremely urgent matter.

Yuri, for her part, had been kidnapped by Momoka so the model could properly enjoy her off day with her girlfriend. Yuri was glad for the chance to unwind from the events of the previous day. This had left Tsubomi and Itsuki alone, but the couple didn't mind the sudden privacy in the slightest.

Thanks to all the support from her old and new friends, Tsubomi had managed to find the calm she had lost for the last week. If it wasn't Love and her team cheering her up, it was Nozomi and Rin managing to get her a laugh out of her, or Mai and Saki sharing sincere and heartfelt -and oddly confident- words of encouragement. Between their efforts and Itsuki's, they hadn't given Tsubomi any time to feel sad.

Once she was done moving some fertilizer sacks into the storage room, Itsuki made her way back to Itsuki. "Do you want to eat something at my place once we're done here?" she asked.

"We better stop at my place first for a shower, you aren't smelling all that fresh at the moment," Tsubomi laughed, gesturing at her dirty companion.

"I don't stink, do I?" she asked in a quiet and embarrassed voice, taking a little sniff at her clothes... She found she didn't need a reply from Tsubomi after all. "Okay, you're right, I could do with a quick shower..."

Tsubomi laughed some more, eliciting an abashed smile from Itsuki. It was short lived, though, as Itsuki's smile turned roguish after a moment; she spent the way to Tsubomi's house hugging her girlfriend tightly. Seeing Tsubomi mad, embarrassed and amused was much better than those times when sadness had managed to overwhelm her.

The Hanasaki were promptly informed the responsible party for their daughter's sorry state was Itsuki, and that their daughter was going eat at Itsuki's place as payment for the aforementioned crime. Her parents quickly sent the pair to the bathroom and saw the girls off as if it were just any other day. If her parents suspected anything existed between the two girls or not, they hadn't mentioned anything before and they didn't either at that moment.

While the couple was making their way to Itsuki's house, back in the Fairy Drop Yuri was filling Momoka in about what happened on the fight. Momoka couldn't stop laughing when Yuri admitted that she couldn't get that last scene off her mind. Things didn't improve later on when Erika returned from her trip to Clover Town to provide the _Juicy Version_of the events with three hundred percent more details than Yuri's version.

Three long days went by before they got any news from Black and White.

Like last time, a note appeared seemingly out of thin air, this time in the Hanasaki's greenhouse, informing them of the date for the fight. Again in the forest surrounding Wakabadai, Friday, at six o'clock. The girls decided to stick to their original plan, even if most of the girls hadn't managed to overcome the protection around their own powers and were still unable to attack with their full power.

Black and White in the other hand... well, they hadn't even broken a sweat despite the other teams's best efforts.

Still, if they had managed to make Black want to stop fighting, then it stood to reason that the same could be done with White. They could avoid extending the fight needlessly or avoid fighting at all.

It had to be their final encounter, and then they would get their friends back.

At four o'clock of the scheduled day for their fight, Honoka and Nagisa were already at the feet of the Lion's rock. They planned to wait for their opponent and start the fight as soon as possible. They were ready to force them to break their seal and fight to their one hundred percent and finish with their nightmare. But, despite the situation, they decided to enjoy the little time they still had in their hands.

"Any food left?" Nagisa asked, taking a sip of her tea.

"The food is gone. If it is any consolation, you ate a lot more," Honoka replied without taking her eyes from the book in her hands.

"Come on, you got some of my appetite lately, admit it," Nagisa said, a smile dancing on her lips.

"It's a miracle I didn't gain any weight with everything I have been eating these last weeks," she murmured, looking at Nagisa by the corner of her eye. "According to Mepple, it's normal that our bodies require more energy lately, but in your case, you were eating my entire pantry."

"I didn't eat it all," she protested, returning an amused look to her friend.

Honoka put down the book and smiled at Nagisa, taking her hand after a moment.

"It's your fault I won't be able to look the girls to the face when they arrive," Honoka reproached her, blushing brightly. "You took your sweet time to break the hold of that weird attack."

A naughty smile spread on Nagisa's face. "Wanna know a secret?"

"Huh?"

"I broke free the next day," she quickly planted a kiss on Honoka's hair, taking advantage of Honoka's surprise, but just as quickly pulled back, away from Honoka's reach. "To tell you the truth, I wanted to make more time. To be with you." She averted her eyes away from Honoka's comforting look. "We still don't know what is going to happen next, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to be with you and I... I just let that attack affect me, I wanted more time. I'm... I'm so sorry."

"Nagisa..." Honoka whispered and took Nagisa's hands.

They remained quiet for a while, a comfortable silence that needed nothing to be said; it was comfortable being there, feeling close to each other, feeling the warmth of the other and her energy and power flowing through their touch.

"Regardless of that, you still flipped my skirt in front of everybody else," Honoka finally said with an angry pout. "That's without going into detail about everything else that they got to see!" her pout began to falter as Nagisa's lips started to twitch. The tomboy was fighting a losing battle against a smile. "You may not remember, but I had to put you under a submission hold to keep you under control because you didn't stop groping me!"

With each word Nagisa's smile grew more and more until it was impossible to hold her laughter any longer and she found herself on the ground, holding her stomach as she rolled around. Honoka blushed all the way up to her ears and she only managed to shake Nagisa until her girlfriend stopped laughing like a loon.

"It sucks I can't remember that part, it must have been incredible!" Nagisa managed to say between giggling fits.

"Nagisa, stop laughing, it wasn't funny!"

"They probably won't be afraid of you when they arrive!"

"Nagisa!"

"Ouch, my sides hurts now!"

Nagisa eventually managed to control herself and took big gulps of air. She threw an impish look at her friend a moment before pulling her into a hug, falling to the ground with a huge smile on her face.

"We both know it will be easy to get them angry, especially when you use your charms and we tell them _that_ thing that Moonlight kept from them," she said with a smile, stroking her partner's hair.

"I hope so..."

Their time was running out, they knew they were basically at their very limit and Nagisa had to admit she could no longer act like a fool. It was just a fight. They only needed that fight and they would be able to take an enormous burden off their shoulders.

Nagisa hugged Honoka tighter and started to shower her on kisses, and Honoka simply let herself be loved by her girlfriend. Nagisa truly wanted to make the most of every moment she still had with Honoka. The black haired girl would let Nagisa do as she wanted... as long as the clothes stayed on their place this time, of course.

As the day turned golden and orange, they felt the energies of the other Pretty Cure approaching the area. After sharing one last and hungry kiss, and clinging to each other as if their lives depended on it, they transformed and turned to face their opponents.

The numerous girls were already transformed and both sides exchanged fierce looks of determination... before some of the girls finally broke down, dropping the serious composure. Some of them smiled mockingly or blushed in embarrassment as soon as they looked at Cure White. The black haired girl didn't have to figure out that fear was the last thing on those girl's minds. She felt her cheeks burning and she lowered her face a little.

Marine was the first one to break the silence with a crowing laugh. "Look! We can see the blush going all the way down your neck, Cure White!" she said between giggles.

At the sight of White's chagrin and the quiet and not at all discrete laughs from the other girls, Black draped an arm around her partner's shoulder and smiled confidently at their opponents.

"Laugh all you want while you can, this time we're going to get serious," Black said, shattering the mood. "That attack of yours won't work again, so you better forget about that joke and fight like you mean it."

"Promise you will tell us why you needed to take Coco and the others!" Dream shouted. His absence and the unknown about what happened to Coco and the rest of the fairies had been starting to flay on her nerves again.

"We will tell you everything you want to know if you beat us, that's been the deal since the beginning and nothing has changed that," White replied, her confidence finally making its return. "Unless you win, you won't know our intentions. Ah, of course, there's the matter of you losing. In that case, well, you won't need to know anything..." her smile twisted into a dark thing. "You will be gone, so I don't think you will mind terribly."

Silence.

Wordlessly, Moonlight indicated to her partners to split and move towards their designated opponents. There was no need of further input. Black and White simply looked at them without trying to stop them.

"Shall we, White?"

"Whenever you say, Black."

Both girls smiled.

In less than a blink, both girls were already over their opponents. Bloom and Egret moved to intercept them with an energy shield that shattered under the powerful impacts almost immediately. Dream, Rose and Rouge attacked Black with their bare fists while Lemonade, Aqua and Mint used their magic to attack the swift White.

After trading lighting fast punches with Black, Dream's team jumped away to let Peach, Berry, Pine and Passion take their place. While the Fresh team took over, Moonlight and her partners summoned their Tacts and got ready.

"I like this!" Black shouted, eyes wild in excitement. "Fight harder, use all your power! Don't you dare holding back now!"

Letting out a roar Black punched Peach and Passion hard enough to send them flying with two brutal blows. Before Black could recover from her own attack Moonlight and Marine were already upon her.

White didn't seem to have many problems dealing with her opponents, simply concerning herself to block and deflect their attacks. Before she could move to the offensive Aqua, Mint and Lemonade moved away to let Blossom and Sunshine attack. Bloom and Egret tried to attack White from behind but she managed to dodge and move away from Blossom and Sunshine...

"Got her!"

… only to find a glowing chain coiling around her body.

"Sapphire Arrows!"

"Emerald Saucer!"

White took a deep breath and closed her eyes. It was a direct hit. The smoke and dust cleared to show White in the process of breaking free of the straining chains, the black haired warrior showing just a few scratches for all the problems of the girls.

"Is that everything you have?" she inquired, fixing the bow on her hair. "You must be joking," her voice took a darker tone and a dark mist emanated off her body. "Black, they are not taking this fight seriously! Let's make them stop playing around!"

"You read my mind!" Black shouted back, jumping on top of a rock not far from White. She looked over at the other girls with a big smile, her posture screaming nonchalance as she made her neck pop. "And here I was thinking that you at least wanted to rescue Cure Flower and Chiffon after we killed everybody else."

A sepulchral silence blanketed the entire area.

Wide eyed and fists clenching painfully, Moonlight stared at Black. She chanced looking around at the rest of the girls, oblivious of the black mist rolling around their feet.

"What... wha-what, what did you say?" Dream's pain filled voice broke the silence. The sudden stab of agony in her chest made every single of those words painful to saw.

"Well, Black was very clear, Cure Dream. It's just as you heard just now," White replied in that dark tone. "The princes of Palmier Kingdom and their messenger, Cure Flower's mighty faerie and also the future rulers of the kingdom of Candies..." a macabre smile stretched her lips as the light seemed to dim around her, and she made a careless gesture with her hand, "they all are no longer among the living." She shook her head, giving them a pitying look. "I made sure to put it on the note, don't you remember? _We hope you said your goodbyes because you will never see them again_," she said like a teacher providing an answer for the class. Suddenly she looked concerned as if a thought had just crossed her mind. "Why, don't tell me you really thought you could have saved them. What could have made you think that was even possible?"

Black's shoulders started to shake and peals of laughter soon rolled over their stunned audience, and White simply looked at them with malice in her eyes and a wicked smile on her lips.

"When we are done with you, Cure Flower and Chiffon will be following you right at your heels, so you won't have to worry about getting sad. You will see all your friends," Black smiled cruelly, "once we kill every. Single. One. Of. You."

Black and White started to laugh at the silence of the other girls. The group of girls hadn't moved at all, unable to form any coherent word, unable to believe their friends were really gone. It wasn't supposed to be like this! Many of them fell to their knees, silent tears flowing freely from their eyes, and horrified expressions was the only thing clear on their faces.

"C-co Coco... Nuts... Syrup..." sobbed Dream. "Coco... no... you don't... I never told you, you can't be dead... you can't..."

"No way... no way... Tart... Azukina..." Peach mumbled through her tears. "It's not true..."

"Coupe-sama... impossible... you're the strongest fairy, you can't be dead," Blossom whispered, looking down to her shaking hands. "They... will do the same to my grandma... they are going to kill her... no... no, I won't. Let. Them..."

The wave of energy that suddenly was released by the group was easy to feel. It moved over the forest like a gentle wave that flooded the valley before a sudden torrent of wild emotions crushed it all. Each and every one of the warriors felt something shattering within them, letting their emotions flow freely: Anger, rage, hate, sadness, despair, fear. Even for those who had dealt with those emotions in the past found it was too much, impossible to hold them back.

The energy of the area heard the call of the grieving warriors and it reacted, flooding them with enough power to snap them out of their initial shock. The gentle glow of the nearby lake went unnoticed as the warriors focused solely on the source of their pain.

The couple was laughing sincerely now, happiness drawn over their faces instead of the ugly expressions of before. They had finally succeeded. They had broken the chains holding the seals on the Pretty Cure.

But the group was unable to notice the change on the pair.

"YOU MONSTERS!" Dream roared out of control.

Tears coating her face and fury running freely through her veins, Cure Dream launched herself after Cure Black. The warrior in black smiled widely as the first punch hit its mark and Black had to anchor her feet firmly on the ground to avoid being blown away. The pink haired girl's hits packed quite a wallop, all previous fights couldn't hold a candle to that first punch just now. Dream's partners immediately followed her lead and fell upon Black, landing punches and kicks all over her body. Rose in particular caused Black to wince in pain with every single one of her devastating hits.

"MONSTERS! MONSTERS!" Dream kept shouting, her face twisted in anger and pain. "I WILL KILL YOU!"

As if they were a single being, feed by their leader's fury, the other five warriors attacked from every angle in perfect synchrony despite the rage filling their chests... much to the black clad warrior's joy.

"If it is any consolation, it was like snapping a twig!" Black laughed as she finally went on the counterattack and landed a haymaker on Rose's face, "They probably didn't even feel it!" she shouted, tackling Rouge to the ground.

Peach, Berry, Pine and Passion were pounding on White with support from Bloom and Egret. The girls were still crying, filled by an uncontrollable anger and sadness, with only one way to sate those feelings.

"You had no reason to kill them! They never did anything wrong!" Peach shouted, landing punch after punch on White. "They were our friends! They were innocents!"

"They had to die!" White stressed with a dark smile that drove her opponents into a further rage. "But you don't need to worry, you will be joining them soon!" she kicked Peach in the chest and quickly spun to strike the other three girls.

"We thought there was still something good within you to save," Bloom cried, "But you're nothing more than monsters!" she launched a blast of energy that blew White away.

"You had no right to do that!" Egret shouted, kicking White into the ground in mid flight, and matching kick by kick at a speed that most found impossible to follow.

"Crying won't solve anything now. They are gone and you will soon follow them!"

Spinning quickly, White managed to push away from the two warriors only to find herself immobilized again, this time inside a bright flower. She soon noticed Moonlight and Sunshine nearby, obviously having used the same trick they had used on Black the last time.

"We told you this wouldn't work!" White said, straining against the flower to break free.

"It's not to purify you!" Moonlight deathly cold voice said, silent tears in her eyes. "We just needed you to stop jumping around. Now, girls!"

Without needing any further incentive Peach and her team, along with Bloom and Egret, unleashed their magic attacks on White. Unable to do anything to dodge, the warrior in white could only clench her teeth and endure the punishment. The shockwave caused by the impact of the attacks knocked several trees off its roots and Cure White was sent flying until she hit a rock big enough to stop her momentum, by shattering through it, and rolled to a stop on the ground.

The dust hadn't even started to settle down when the girls noticed the white warrior standing to her feet again.

"Now this is a real fight," White said with a placid smile. "We're just warming up here, though, so don't stop now!"

Black was also under the constant punishment from physical and magical attacks coming from every direction. Her opponents didn't stop crying and cursing her, and in reply, Black smiled, "Wanna guess who we killed first? Or maybe who cried the harder while we kept the other fairies?" she kept bragging about how easy it had been to murder the magical beings.

Blossom and Marine, still grieving for Coupe, took advantage of a break in the fight to immobilize Cure Black just like Moonlight and Sunshine had done with White. The other girls didn't miss a beat and as soon as Black was held in the air, Dream and her team summoned their Cures Fleurets and Milky Rose invoked her weapon. Bloom and Egret landed nearby to them and focussed the power of the spirits, changing into the forms of Cure Bright and Cure Windy.

"Rainbow Rose Explosion!"

"Metal Blizzard!"

"Spiral Star Splash!"

Just like her partner, Cure Black went flying deep into the forest by the attacks, but just as her partner she stood up right away. She was injured, as much as her partner, but she didn't show any sign of weakness or wish to surrender.

The confident smile the pair directed at the group incensed them even more.

"Come on, White!"

"Yes!"

The two girls jumped towards each other and stopped for a moment to hold hands only to suddenly blur in motion and attack each Cure one by one in a whirlwind of violence. The sudden assault caught many by surprise but many more managed to put some up some defense and counter attack. The group had known the two warriors would get a boost from staying in contact with each other, but this was ridiculous!

Moonlight, sadly already a friend with grief and the death of an ally, started to work on calming the girls down and get them to focus on her orders. Splitting the pair was the first and most important order. She looked for somebody who hadn't let themselves get lost in their fury and found Windy and Bright. With a quick look, they followed Moonlight's new plan.

Moving like a single unit the three girls moved after the pair that was currently busy against the quartet of Clover Town. Bright moved behind Black while Windy did the same with White and both activated their energy shields in a way that it would cover their opponents up to their arms, leaving their joined hands between both barriers. Suddenly, the shields covered each girl's hand and started to glow as the films of light neared each other. With a crack of energy, both barriers tried to repel each other, and force the girls apart.

Black and White tightened their hold on each other, despite the incredible energy that trying to force them apart.

Lemonade's chain suddenly coiled around Black's torso and free arm and Rose quickly joined her friend, knowing the little blond's physical strength would be no match to overcome Black. The short haired warrior endured the first brutal pull, so the rest of their team quickly got in the action, unleashing a barrage of attacks upon Black.

On the other side of the barriers, White was trying to defend herself from the Fresh team's artillery, repelling everything she could with quick kicks but her body was still under a tremendous punishment.

The four remaining girls didn't waste time to get in the action.

Moonlight, Sunshine, Blossom and Marine directed their attacks directly between the barriers, aiming for the girls' hands. They were going to get them to let go of each other one way or another.

At the imminent risk of losing their hands, the pair exchanged a fierce smile and let go. Black went flying away like a bullet, pulled by Rose's titanic strength, while White was held in place by the crumbling barrier still holding her in place for the time being.

"You know what to do!" Moonlight's commanding voice cut through the moment of inaction, snapping the girls from their previous rage. "Now!"

The large group immediately split and changed to their original formations. Dream and her team, with support of Moonlight and Marine, chased White, and Black had to deal with Blossom, Sunshine, Bright, Windy and Peach's team.

As soon as the pair started to get on the rhythm of the fight, their opponents would switch around. The strongest Cures would use parts of the landscape to throw off the pair, while others tried for misdirection and surprise. The girls would focus on one on one fights and then switch at the moment Black or White tried to fight back. They also abused the pair's lack of ranged attacks by tossing them through the air like rag dolls, pattering them in mid flight with as many ranged attacks as possible.

Their plan was finally working, the group finally had the upper hand over the couple.

A constant barrage of magical attacks ended with Black and White buried under several tons of trees and rocks on opposite sides of the area. The group stood their ground as mountains of debris was pushed away by the couple as they dug themselves out of the impact zone. Much to the chagrin of the teams, the couple seemed refreshed even as they dusted off themselves. Excited even despite their bloodied injuries! Without wasting any time, Black and White jumped back into the fight.

The teams still fueled by their anger, no longer holding back and guided by Moonlight's lead, they had finally managed to cause substantial damage to the two girls, but the couple didn't show any sign of surrendering. No matter how many times Black and White were pounded into the ground, the pair always stood back to their feet, seemingly even stronger than before.

Looking back to that day, many girls imagined that was what many of their old enemies felt when fighting against the Pretty Cure. It was frustrating seeing them get back to their feet without any end on sight. The fight continued deep into the night and the light of the Pretty Cure's magic was the only thing illuminating the valley.

Black and White managed to get put some distance from the other teams and reunited once again. They were badly battered but they still exchanged a quick smile. They held hands once again.

"I think it is time for the Marble Screw, Black..."

"I think it is, White."

The couple looked at the teams and they extended a hand towards the approaching girls. The fight had dragged for long enough.

"You better use your strongest attacks!" Black shouted with a cocky smile.

"If things continue the way they are, one side is going to burn out, and we can assure you it is not going to be us!" White told them seriously. "We have no intentions of fighting all the way to dawn! If you truly want to avenge your friends and rescue those two survivors, you will have to finish this for good!"

"If you can!" her partner said mockingly.

"That's the stance of their magical attack," Bloom said and the rest of the girls looked at her, noticing her worried expression.

Only Bloom and Egret had seen Black and White use their magic, but the two girls had told them about just how strong it was, even back then when Black and White hadn't been going at their full strength. It seemed they really wanted to finish the fight now, so the teams decided to unleash everything they had. Despite the anger fueling their hearts, they knew White was right, they were tiring faster than the couple.

It was all or nothing now.

The girls gaped in surprise when Black and White summoned two bracelets and they could feel a new surge of power rolling off the pair.

"Black Thunder!"

"White Thunder!"

White and Black lighting shot down the skies to impact on the two girls with a deafening boom and the large group spread out and started chanting too. Moonlight's team even changed into stronger forms. Peach exchanged a look with her team and they nodded; their strongest attack was a short range move, but that was far from optimal at the moment.

Moving as one, the large group unleashing all their powers.

"Triple Fresh!"

"Happiness Hurricane!"

"Spiral Star Splash!"

"Rainbow Rose Explotion!"

"Metal Blizzard!"

"Heartcatch Orchestra!"

The magic flew just as Black and White took aim. The two girls squeezed the other's hand a little tighter for a moment and the energy coursing through their bodies gathered in a point in front of them.

"Marble Screw Max!"

The night lit like the middle of the day as the techniques finally crashed. Black and White found themselves forced back, their feet digging trenches on the floor as the combined might of their opponents started to overwhelm their Marble Screw. The emotions running hotly through the other girls drove them beyond their limits, and little by little, their combined strength gained ground against White and Black's beam.

"You will pay what you did to Coco and the others!" Dream cried out as she poured everything into their attack. "WE WILL TEAR YOU APART!"

"You had no right to kill them!" Peach's raw voice rang, tears threatening to spill again on her eyes. "YOU HAD NO RIGHT!"

"I will get my grandmother back, I won't let you hurt her!" a wild Blossom yelled. "And Coupe-sama... THIS IS FOR COUPE-SAMA!"

Despite being driven even further back, Black and White regarded their opponent with wide smiles.

"You didn't think this would end just like this, did you?" Black replied with that annoying smile.

"Here comes the best part!" White added and looked at her partner, and they both nodded. "SPARK!" they shouted as one.

Their bracelets shone with the light of a rainbow and their attack suddenly increased in power. In a blink, the monochromatic attack was enough to rival the combined techniques, none of the sides giving any ground. Despite their sorry state, Black and White still held cool expressions, without showing any weakness under the pressure of their opponents' attacks.

The other girls kept pouring their feelings and power into their attacks, but they didn't seem to be able to gain any ground now.

"Come on, where is that spirit from a moment ago!" Black shouted.

"If you truly want Cure Flower and Infinity back you need to do better!" White said with a dark grin.

Those words incensed the girls and their attacks gained more strength, but even their anger was running low.

However, Bright and Windy smiled in a way that could rival the smugness of Black and White, leaving their allies confused.

"If you wanted something better, then pay attention!" Bright said.

"We had been saving this since the last fight! You're going down!" Windy added and then she shouted. "KAORU-SAN!"

"MICHIRU, DO IT NOW!"

Two girls wearing uniforms in the same colors than Bright and Windy seemed to blur into existence, flanking White and Black. The large group of girls almost lost their focus on their attacks but they recovered as the newcomers started to gather torrents of energy in front of them.

"SPIRAL SPLASH STAR!" the girls shouted and time seemed to slow down.

Black and White looked at each other and smiled.

"This is what we wanted, right?" bittersweetness filled Black's voice.

"Yes, it's finally over," White whispered, gently tugging her partner's hand.

"Losing isn't really my thing," Black whispered with an annoyed pout. "But after this comes the best part, doesn't it?"

"Yes... I just hope they can forgive us for... everything."

The attack of the twins hit Black and White, causing their Marble Screw to weaken for a moment, more than enough for the combined attacks to finally overwhelm and tear through it.

The glare of the explosion blinded the girls for a moment before a cloud of debris blocked the view. As the roar of the explosion rang to a silence, Michiru and Kaoru reunited with Bright and Windy. The rest of the girls were still too surprised to properly ask about the cavalry's identity.

The silence stretched until the cloud of dust finally settled down.

A large trench on the ground started at the point the magical attacks had hit Black and White and it stopped at the feet of a mountain of rocks, dirt and knocked down trees. There was no trace of the duo, and they couldn't feel their energy anymore.

"Did we do it?" Blossom asked in a shaky voice.

"I think so..." Dream murmured, brushing tears and sweat off her face.

"Michiru, Kaoru, thank you so much!" Bright sighed, and she and Windy hugged their friends.

Seeing the warmth their friends showered on their cavalry, the rest of the girls relaxed and couldn't help smiling. Talk about the element of surprise. The three fairies that had been watching from the sidelines approached their partners, landing atop Blossom's, Marine's and Sunshine's heads. They seemed to have been crying too, grieving their friends' deaths.

"Girls, met our friends," Bright said with a sad smile. "This is Michiru," she introduced the shorter girl with red hair.

"And Kaoru-san," Mai continued, indicating the girl with the blue and long hair. "They are sisters and they stood along with us in our mission a while ago."

The twins simply smiled at the others, a little self-conscious at the attention of so many strangers, but also sad when they learned that their victory had been marred by tragedy. They didn't know what they could say to comfort them and take the bitter taste of their hollow victory.

"Thank you very much," Moonlight said with a gentle smile. "We will have time to properly introduce each other and thank you for your help, but right now we have to deal with Black and White and find Kaoruko-san's and Chiffon's whereabouts," she finished with a bitter tone.

The twins nodded and were going to say something but the sound of boulders grinding against each other made the group jump in surprise. They felt their blood run cold when they saw White shove a rock away from her and walk out of the wreckage, her partner hanging bonelessly on her back. The white clad girl stumbled towards a clear patch of grass and gently set her partner on the ground.

"Im-impossible... this can't be true..." a pale Peach mumbled, unable to say anything else.

"How can she still be standing?" Marine asked.

Feeling their rage rekindled once again, the girls rushed after the battered pair, ignoring their exhaustion, and ready to finish what they had started. Too drained to properly use their magic techniques, the numerous group readied their fist but their mad dash was forced to a halt when they slammed against a large, glowing barrier that appeared around Black and White. Most of the girls managed to slow down in time, but some still crashed to a stop.

Mipple and Mepple jumped out of the cases hanging off Black's and White's belts, and a blond girl clad in a pink uniform seemed to fall off the sky, holding her arms wide to the side. A light glowed on the girl's chest, seeming to echo the light of the barrier behind her.

"Don't get any closer, it's dangerous-mipo!" the little pink fairy princess shouted.

"Please, let her go! I promise to explain everything to you and take you to your friends, they are fine, but you have to let White go!" the blond girl begged them.

"Coco and everybody else are fine-mepo!" shouted the little Hero in a desperate voice. "Calm down, they are alive-mepo!"

The girls could only watch in a stunned silence as White knelt down next to her partner. The warrior in white had a vacant expression on her face and the girls thought it was a miracle she had even managed to walk considering quite a few bones looked broken from the distance, much less get herself and Black out of the wreckage. The black haired girl tried to touch her partner's face but an arch of energy zapped her hand when it got too close. White stood up again, but her hair hid her face. The girls couldn't help noticing that her once white uniform was stained by red bloodstains that seemed to keep growing even as they watched.

"Mipple," they heard the broken voice whispering in the silence. "I can... I can finally speak with you again... but I can't hold you anymore, I'm sorry... I'm so sorry you had to go through this..."

"Honoka..." the little creature started to sob and tried to move closer to her protegee, but she was forced back by a burst of black energy jumping out of White's body.

"Thank you for everything, Mipple and Mepple, please take care of her," tears fell down her face. She finally turned towards the girls and they gasped in fright when they saw her eyes clouded with a deep darkness and an unstable emotion brimming within. "I'm very sorry, I'm sorry for everything. Luminous, Mepple and Mipple will explain everything to you. We had to push everything to this extreme because of forces beyond our control. We had to fight, and it had to be you... I'm sorry for everything we put you through. I'm afraid that from now on, we will cause you even more problems, I hope you can understand why we did what we did.

"Even if you can't forgive us, please, I beg you, help us..."

Her request was met by confused silence.

"Mipple, can you do me a favor?"

"Anything you want-mepo."

"Tell Nagisa I love her... that I will love her forever..."

With those words, Cure White stumbled towards the shadows of the forest and walked through them as if they were a door opening for her. As soon as the girl disappeared, a clear and calming energy flooded the valley even as the destruction around them vanished, taking away any trace of what happened that night.

Luminous let the shield drop and whipped the few tears that managed to spill, then she turned towards the large group of girls.

"I will take you to Cure Flower and your friends, they all are fine, but first I need to fix what they broke. I'm sorry you had to go through this," the upset blond said, still misty eyed.

The energy radiating from the girl embraced the Pretty Cures and the girls felt their pain melt away. Like a sigh, their sadness gave place to an immense calm, the anger and hate gave room for a tranquil peace, and their exhausted bodies rejuvenated in a matter of seconds.

Then, they felt something inside them come together once again, something they had just noticed had been broken. The seal that had been shattered in their grief was with them once again. That girl, whoever she was, held an amazing power.

"There, you should feel better," she sighed, giving them a smile. With a glance to the case at her waist she said, "Porun, take us to the others, please."

"Okay-popo!" replied a childish voice.

A rainbow the girls knew all too well fell from the skies and engulfed them all. The girls started to float for a moment before shooting into the skies at blinding speeds. Knowing that they were going to be reunited with their friends they only needed to get the answers they had been promised for so long.


End file.
